Heathrow drop-off cost *

From Monday 1 November, the charge will be £5.  Taxi drivers will add the sum to their bill.

The Terminal Drop-Off Charge is only payable online, via an automated telephone service or via autopay. It cannot be dealt with at an airport ticket machine or in the terminal drop-off zones.  The fee is applied via Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) – there are no barriers.

All the terminals will be covered by the scheme.

Exemptions are available “for blue badge holders, operational vehicles, emergency services, motorcycles, coaches, and (what it calls) colleague buses,” but you need to register before you travel. You are required to supply the vehicle registration number, visit date, badge number, flight number and an image of the front and rear of blue badge plus of course an email address. The good news is that it can be done retrospectively up to midnight the day after the trip.  But is it worthwhile for the £5 fee involved?

You cannot pick up passengers in the drop-off zones but with all the terminals short-term parking is close by and easy with charges starting from £5.10p for the first 29 minutes.

www.heathrow.com/transport-and-directions/terminal-drop-off-charge

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OUR READERS' FINEST WORDS (All times and dates are GMT)

All comments are filtered to exclude any excesses but the Editor does not have to agree with what is being said. 100 words maximum

Greg Cope, United Kingdom

What a cheek/rip-off. Everyone should boycott LHR.

David Tarsh, UK

Whilst I have every sympathy for everyone in the travel industry, nobody likes to be ripped off and that is what this is - a high charge with no associated benefit, introduced because the airport has a captive market.

Anne Silver, East Ham

I suppose it was inevitable, but London City does not charge for dropping off, nor Southend.