Gatwick Airport looks to ramp up driving fees in drastic move to block cars in favour of public transport

Currently, only 45 per cent of passengers arrive by public transport, with the remainder contributing to road congestion.

The plans were outlined in Gatwick's latest submission to the Planning Inspectorate after Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander failed to approve the runway expansion in an initial ruling in February.

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But officials have expressed concerns that approving the expansion without addressing transport issues could worsen congestion on the already busy roads around the airport.

The airport's chief executive, Stewart Wingate, explained that higher charges would help influence travellers' decisions about how to reach the airport.

Gatwick currently charges £6 for a drop-off to be completed within 10 minutes, with the fee applying to both taxis and private cars. Each additional minute costs an extra £1, up to a maximum of £26 for 30 minutes.

The headline fee was increased from £5 at the start of 2024, a move that sparked outrage at the time with many drivers branding the increase as a "rip-off" and "absolute joke".

By comparison, Heathrow charges £6 for drop-offs while Stansted charges £7, with experts now warning that any further increase in fees would likely make Gatwick the most expensive London airport for drivers to access.

Wingate has not specified how large any future increase might be, but he did indicate that higher charges could be introduced as a last resort if public transport usage doesn't improve.

He told The Telegraph: "We'd be trying to influence people who were making that marginal decision of 'should I drive and drop off or use the car parks, or should I use the rail services?'

"The forecourt drop-off charge is the mechanism we can use. We could start to increase that drop-off charge. If we adjust that upwards, we would also make changes to the car parking tariffs as well."

The airport chief stated that since Gatwick has no control over trains, adjusting fees would be the main way it could discourage car arrivals.He noted that higher charges would only be implemented if other measures fail to boost public transport usage.

Gatwick has promised to initially engage with train and coach operators, the Department for Transport and Network Rail on more direct efforts to increase public transport use.

"We're trying to give the Government a pragmatic, sensible and rational pathway which achieves the objective of reduced road congestion and allows them to support the runway," Wingate said.

In addition to the pricing strategy, Gatwick has agreed to accept a reduction in the expanded airport's noise footprint from 135 square kilometres to 125 square kilometres.

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A public consultation will now be launched to allow all parties to respond to Gatwick's proposals on both the expansion of the runways and new parking fees.

The Government is expected to reach a final decision on the runway plan ahead of an October deadline.