Heathrow has come under fire for raising short-stay car parking charges at one of its busiest terminals by as much as 66%.
The cost of parking for between one and two hours at Terminal 4 in the evening “peak” is now £12 – compared with £7.20 for 90 minutes at the start of September.
Short-stay car parking prices across all Heathrow terminals were increased in the middle of September by as much as 39%, but additional peak morning and evening rates were introduced at Terminal 4 last week, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Heathrow said it wanted to “manage demand” at Terminal 4, given huge problems with queues that “tail back to the motorway”.
A spokeswoman said the terminal carries a large number of flights from the Middle East and the Indian sub-continent, and “a lot of family members come to see their loved ones off”, causing over-crowding in the car park.
Heathrow said the increases brought the airport in line with Gatwick, and followed requests from the Civil Aviation Authority to generate more money through “commercial activities”, to try to reduce the inflationary pressure on regulated airline charges.
The spokeswoman told the newspaper: “They want us to make more money from our commercial activities, be it selling handbags or parking.”
But taxi and chauffeur firms claim the increases are putting an “unfair burden” on their businesses.
One source reportedly said: “Even in the most expensive part of London it only costs £4.40 to park for an hour. It’s a blatant rip-off.
“It’s not acceptable and it’s unreasonable from a driver’s perspective to put up with something like this, it’s got to stop.”