Instead of physical barriers with payment booths, barrierless car parks airports including Birmingham, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Manchester and Stansted now use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) to track how long you park for and how much you owe.
Depending on the airport, you’ll need to remember to pay online or by phone, by the deadline of midnight the next day -- or within 24 hours at Birmingham.
If you forget, you’ll receive a fine. These differ across airports, but can range from £80-£100 and are reduced if paid within 14 days.
Are barrierless airport car park fines legal?
In one case, a barrister avoided a fine for failing to pay Heathrow’s £5 drop-off charge by questioning its legality. Edward Levey, a King’s Counsel at a London chambers, neglected to pay Heathrow’s new £5 fee when dropping off his daughter at the end of last year. The following night, he realised he’d forgotten to pay, and this meant he was threatened with an £80 fine, reduced to £40 if he paid within 14 days.
We reported that while he admitted that there were many signs at the airport warning of the drop-off charge, he believed that – because it’s difficult to pay in the moment – many people will forget as soon as they get home. He attempted to appeal against the fine but parking firm APCOA, which runs the system for Heathrow, turned down his appeal and appointed a debt agency to recover the money.
The parking firm, APCOA, dropped the fine before the challenge went to court, and so the law is still unclear.
Before arriving at some airports you can register for an AutoPay account, which automatically charges your card – but always check how much you’ve been charged at any barrierless car park.
Barrierless car park fines
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