Airports
Fifteen UK airports for private hire work. What it costs you to drop off, where you are actually allowed to wait, and what the byelaws say you may and may not do. Every figure came from the airport's own website, never from a blog.
The single most useful thing on this page. At nearly every major UK airport the taxi rank is an EXCLUSIVE COMMERCIAL CONTRACT, not a scheme an individual driver can join: Complete Taxi Management at Birmingham, Capital Cars at Edinburgh, Zoom at Bristol, Belfast Airport Taxis at Belfast, StreetCars at Stansted, Airport Cars at Gatwick. That is why no rank permit fee is published anywhere. There is no fee because there is nothing to buy. What a driver CAN do is collect a pre-booked fare from the public car park, and the byelaws say where.
A pattern worth knowing before you stop anywhere that is not a car park. Gatwick, Birmingham and Bristol all operate RED ROUTES, double red lines where you may not stop, unload or park even to set a passenger down, camera enforced, all £100. Bristol and Gatwick reduce it to £60 within 14 days, Birmingham to £50. And a drop-off zone is for dropping off. Manchester charges £100 for attempting to pick up in one. Heathrow goes further and says no pick-ups or waiting are permitted at all, and that unattended vehicles may be TOWED. The rule everywhere is the same. If it is not a car park, do not stop. If you are collecting rather than setting down, you are in the wrong place unless the sign says pick up.
| Airport | Drop-off charge | Free option | Driver waiting area published |
|---|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | £7 every time a vehicle enters a terminal drop-off area. In the airport's own words, if you enter a drop-off area a second time you pay again, and every time after that. Three runs in a shift is £21. | Park & Ride is FREE for the first 29 minutes for pick-ups at every terminal, with a shuttle every 15 minutes. At Terminal 4, Zone A of the Park & Ride is free for up to TWO hours. Blue Badge holders get 2 hours free at Park & Ride. | Yes |
| Gatwick | £7 for up to 10 minutes | — | Yes |
| Manchester | Terminal 2 Drop Off: £5.50 for 5 minutes, £6.50 for 10 minutes, £25 up to 30 minutes. Maximum stay 30 minutes. Postcode M90 5PH. Prices differ by terminal. | A separate free drop-off area with a 24/7 shuttle bus to the terminals. Its own facility, not a terminal forecourt. | Yes |
| Stansted | Not published | Mid Stay car park, free for up to 1 hour | — |
| Luton | £7 for 10 minutes, then £1 per minute | — | — |
| Edinburgh | £8 for up to 10 minutes in the charged Pickup & Dropoff zone | Long Stay car park, first 30 minutes free of charge, roughly a 10 minute walk from the terminal | — |
| Birmingham | TWO different facilities, and the difference is the whole point. Drop Off is FREE for up to 10 minutes, a 5 to 10 minute covered walk from the terminal. Premium Set Down is right outside the door and costs £7 for the first 15 minutes. After the free 10 minutes at Drop Off the tariff runs £7 to 15 minutes, £8 to 20, then upward. | Drop Off car park, free for up to 10 minutes. There is also a free bus between the car parks and the terminal. | — |
| Glasgow | £7 for up to 15 minutes, then £1 per minute, and £50 after 30 minutes | Long stay car park, free for up to 1 hour | — |
| Bristol | Drop Off & Pick Up Car Park on the Transport Interchange: £8.50 up to 10 minutes, £10.50 to 20, £13 to 40, £30 to an hour, £60 for 1 to 2 hours. Maximum stay two hours. | Waiting Zone, free for up to one hour, running from the Car Rental Centre a short walk away with a frequent shuttle bus to the terminal. | Yes |
| Belfast International | £5 to park for 10 minutes in the drop off zone, directly opposite the terminal | — | — |
| Liverpool John Lennon | Express Drop-off and Pick-up: £6 up to 10 minutes, £10 up to 20 minutes, £25 up to 1 hour, £50 up to 24 hours and £50 for each 24 hours after. Directly opposite the terminal and the closest point to it. Spaces cannot be reserved. | Motorcycles park free in the designated outdoor spaces. There is no free option published for cars on this page. | — |
| Leeds Bradford | Pick Up & Drop Off car park, cars: £8 for 0-10 minutes, £10 for 10-20, £13.50 for 20-30, £16.50 for 30-60, then £16.50 for each further hour or part hour. Minibuses and coaches pay more, from £15 for 9 seats and under and £18 for 10 seats and over. | One Hour Free Parking Zone inside the Mid Stay car park. Follow the red signs for Mid Stay & 1 Hour Free from Whitehouse Lane, then it is on the right as you enter. Roughly a five minute walk to the terminal on a slight incline. Free for ONE visit of up to one hour only. | Yes |
| Newcastle | From £4 for 15 minutes or £6 for 10 minutes. The airport lists two facilities with different tariffs, so check which one you are entering. | Airport Waiting Zone at Callerton Parkway, free for up to 90 minutes, postcode NE13 8DN | Yes |
| East Midlands | Short stay: £6 up to 30 minutes, £8 up to 1 hour, £12 up to 2 hours, £16 up to 3 hours. A separate Rapid Drop-Off exists but its price is not stated on the pages checked. | Blue Badge holders only: Short Stay 1 free for 30 minutes, Long Stay 2 free for 60 minutes | — |
| Cardiff | Drop Off Zone, directly outside the terminal: £4.50 for the first 10 minutes, and £4.50 for EVERY 10 minutes after that. So half an hour is £13.50. Cheapest first ten minutes of any airport on this page. | Car Park 2 has a drop off and pick up area where the first 20 minutes are FREE. | Yes |
Careful. THE HARSHEST RULE OF ANY UK AIRPORT. Heathrow says no pick-ups or waiting are permitted in the drop-off areas, that vehicles must not be left unattended, and that unattended vehicles MAY BE TOWED. On its pick-up page it goes further: it is prohibited to pick up passengers from Heathrow's terminal forecourts, and any cars left unattended WILL BE REMOVED BY THE POLICE. Everywhere else fines you. Heathrow removes your car.
Not published. The Authorised Vehicle Area is the named private hire waiting facility but its price is NOT published anywhere on heathrow.com. Both dedicated AVA pages 404 and no parking or tariff page mentions it. A £1 per hour figure circulates on minicab blogs and is not used here because no airport source states it. For most collections the free 29 minutes at Park & Ride answers the question anyway.
Worth knowing. THE BIT THAT SAVES YOU THE MOST MONEY. Heathrow is the dearest airport on this page to drop at, £7 every single entry, and yet its Park & Ride is FREE for the first 29 minutes to collect from, with a shuttle bus every 15 minutes. At Terminal 4 it is free for two hours. If you are waiting on a landing rather than setting down, the forecourt is the worst place you can be and the free option is a quarter of an hour away.
Changing soon. Terminal 4's multi-storey car park closes from 23 June 2026 for redevelopment, so the two options there are the Priority Pick-Up Area or Zone A of the Park & Ride.
Source: charges. Checked 2026-08-18.
Source: charges · driver information. Checked 2026-08-18.
Careful. TWO WAYS TO LOSE £100 AT MANCHESTER, and both catch working drivers. 1. DROP OFF ONLY MEANS DROP OFF. In the airport's own words, a £100 charge will be applied to those attempting to pick up passengers in the Drop Off zone. Collecting? Use the Pick Up zone or the Private Hire Holding Area. 2. THERE IS NO BARRIER TO PAY AT. It is all cameras, so it is entirely on you to pay online by midnight the next day. Forget once and it is £100, reduced to £60 within 14 days. Set up AutoPay if you go there regularly. And a third if you are collecting: overstay the 15 minutes at T2 Express Pick Up and it is another £60.
Corrected. An earlier version of this entry said Terminal 3 had a free drop off. It does not. That came from misreading three tab labels on the airport's page as a sentence. The free drop-off area is a separate facility with a shuttle bus.
Source: charges · driver information. Checked 2026-08-18.
Source: charges. Checked 2026-08-18.
Careful. A 2023 news item on the same site says the price is £5. That was the price set in July 2023 and it is superseded. Use the £8 from the parking page, not the news story.
Source: charges · driver information. Checked 2026-08-18.
The airport contradicts itself. The airport contradicts itself on Premium Set Down. Its Dropping Off page says £7 for the first 15 minutes. Its tariff page lists 0 to 15 minutes at £8.00 and records a £1 increase from 9am on 6 August 2026. Both are live on their own site. Budget for £8 and check the sign.
Careful. TWO TRAPS HERE, AND BOTH BITE DRIVERS RATHER THAN HOLIDAYMAKERS. 1. NO RETURN WITHIN ONE HOUR at the free Drop Off car park. Do two runs back to back and the second one is not free. Same shape as the Leeds Bradford re-entry rule. 2. RED ROUTES. Double red lines around the airport roads where you may not stop, unload or park, even just to drop someone off. Monitored and enforced, £100 reduced to £50 within 14 days. Use the Drop Off car park instead.
Source: charges. Checked 2026-08-18.
Checked and rejected. A second-pass quote saying a pre-booked private hire car may load passengers at a public car park or designated pick-up point is NOT in the Glasgow byelaws. The PDF reads fine, 34,500 characters. What it DOES say is byelaw 4(13), no person shall offer a vehicle for hire in car parks or any public place on the airport, and 8(2), only taxis permitted by the Airport Company may use an Authorised Standing. Do not publish the claim.
Careful. HEIGHT RESTRICTION 2.5m on the Drop Off & Pick Up Car Park. Anything taller has to use the Minibus and Over Height car park, which matters if you are running a bigger vehicle or a minibus. RED ROUTES and a no stopping policy across the site. You may not stop, unload or park on the road network even to pick up or drop off. Monitored and enforced, £100 reduced to £60 within 14 days.
Worth knowing. Blue Badge is a REDUCED FEE, not free. Up to 40 minutes for £8.50, by scanning the barcode on the back of the badge at the exit barrier. It works for family and friends dropping a badge holder off too.
Source: charges · driver information · byelaws. Checked 2026-08-18.
Source: charges. Checked 2026-08-18.
Careful. BLUE BADGE FREE PARKING IS NOT AUTOMATIC AND IT IS NOT FOR THE DRIVER. Up to 40 minutes free has to be CLAIMED afterwards by sending the airport a copy of the Blue Badge, the travelling passenger's boarding pass and the vehicle registration, and the badge and the boarding pass must be in the SAME NAME. So it is the passenger's badge and the passenger's flight, not the driver's. Turning up and expecting it waived does not work.
Worth knowing. A search summary suggested a separate 'Drop Off 2' car park free for 40 minutes. That does not appear anywhere on the airport's own Express Drop-off page, and the 40 minutes is in fact the Blue Badge claim-back above. A second facility may exist but it is NOT confirmed and no free car option is published here.
Getting there costs too. THE AIRPORT CHARGE IS NOT THE WHOLE COST. Coming from North Wales, Cheshire or anywhere south of the river you cross the Mersey Gateway or Silver Jubilee Bridge, charged EACH WAY. A car or van is Class 2 at £2.40 a crossing, so £4.80 return on top of the £6 here. A full run is therefore nearer £11 before you have earned anything. Worth knowing: a Class 2 off-peak monthly pass is £75 and covers 7pm to 7am Monday to Friday plus all weekend, which is roughly a taxi driver's shift. It breaks even at about four return trips a week. A £5 pre-pay account saves 10% on every crossing. Merseyflow's figure is dated April 2025 so check it is current.
Source: charges. Checked 2026-08-18.
The airport contradicts itself. THE RE-ENTRY TRAP, and it is aimed straight at anyone doing two runs. In the airport's own words: parking is free for up to one hour, but if you exceed that time, or if you exit and then re-enter the car park within the hour, EVEN IF YOUR TOTAL STAY IS LESS THAN ONE HOUR, the standard Mid Stay hourly tariff applies and is worked out automatically at the exit barrier. The airport also states elsewhere that re-entry within an hour of exiting incurs a minimum charge of £68, which buys up to one day of parking. Treat the free hour as one visit and do not nip back.
Careful. Do not drop off or pick up on the roadways. The airport says it poses a safety risk and that vehicles found doing so may receive a parking charge notice. Use the car parks.
Source: charges · driver information. Checked 2026-08-18.
Source: charges. Checked 2026-08-18.
Source: charges. Checked 2026-08-18.
Careful. TWO WARNINGS IN THE AIRPORT'S OWN WORDS. Vehicles must not be left unattended in the Drop Off Zone and vehicles left unattended may be removed. And do not pick up or drop off on the approach roads, which the airport says causes congestion and safety hazards. Also watch the structure of the drop-off charge. It is not £4.50 and then a tariff, it is £4.50 for EVERY ten minutes, so a twenty minute wait is £9 and half an hour is £13.50.
Source: charges. Checked 2026-08-18.
Every figure here came from the airport's own website or its own byelaws. None of it came from a minicab company's blog or a parking comparison site. That matters more than it sounds: every top search result for airport drop-off charges is exactly that sort of page, and while checking this one of them stated a maximum stay time that appears nowhere on the airport's own site.
Two different qualities of information sit on this page and it is worth knowing which is which. What any vehicle pays to drop off is published clearly by all ten. What a licensed driver specifically needs, meaning where you may wait and whether you must register, is published properly by four. Where an airport does not publish it, this page says so and names what was checked rather than guessing. A blank here means unknown, never free.
If your airport is missing, or a figure has moved, tell us and it gets fixed — taxitoolsuk@gmail.com.
Airport charges change, sometimes at a few days' notice, and the rules for drivers are set by each airport rather than by any national standard. Check before you rely on a figure, especially before budgeting a job around it. Last checked 2026-08-18.
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