Airport Drop-off Charges

Steve Yemm Excerpts

Tuesday 13th January 2026 Westminster Hall

[Steve Yemm (Mansfield) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Vaz. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton South and Walkden (Yasmin Qureshi) on securing this important debate.

I have heard much about this issue from many of my constituents in Mansfield, and they all make the same point again and again: people feel as if they are being unfairly charged for simply dropping someone off at the airport. They are not asking for special treatment or favour; they are simply trying to drop off a partner, parent or child. That often takes no more than a few minutes, yet this basic act now comes with a significant charge at many airports, particularly for those on lower incomes. Let us be clear: this is not about parking, and it is not a premium service. It is a fee for stopping a car long enough for someone to get out, unload their suitcase and say goodbye.

Two of my constituents who wrote to me on this topic, Emma and Keith, commented on what this looks like at East Midlands airport, which is close to Mansfield—many of my constituents fly from there. At East Midlands airport, drivers are charged £5 for up to 15 minutes in a drop-off zone, with a number of extra charges for additional minutes. As Emma and Keith made clear, the problem is not just the price, but the whole system under which they are charged. At East Midlands airport, there are no barriers or ticket machines. There is no way to pay by cash or card, and one might not realise that one has incurred a charge. Drivers are recorded by automatic cameras and required to pay later, either online or by phone. Crucially for many of my constituents, the payment has to be made by midnight the following day. If drivers miss that deadline, they will be hit with a parking charge of £100.

Many of my constituents have pointed out that the system penalises people who do not have a smartphone or access to the internet—particularly older people, as we have seen with automatic number plate recognition systems and cashless systems in some car parks in my Mansfield constituency. Some people do not use apps, and others might not feel confident about paying online. Some people might not even realise that they have to pay, or that they have been charged, until a penalty notice arrives through the post.

This is not modernisation—at least, it is not a modernity of which I would approve—but exclusion. Working people feel it the most, including parents dropping off their children and families trying to save money by giving lifts, as well as disabled passengers and older travellers who need to be dropped off close to the terminal entrance. For many of those people, being dropped off is not a convenience but a necessity. We should be honest about the market: airports are effectively local monopolies. Someone living in Mansfield cannot shop around for somewhere else to drop off at East Midlands airport. There is no cheaper accessible drop-off option. They either pay the charge or do not use it.

That is why this debate is important, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton South and Walkden for securing it. We need to consider regulation, because if airport management is not prepared to act, we should be prepared to do so. My message to airport management is very simple: stop the excessive charges, end the punitive enforcement and ensure that systems for payment work for everyone, not just for those with smartphones and digital confidence. I say to them: act now, or MPs like me will look to compel them to do so.