Be very interesting to see if there are any Court cases around this.

I worked at Gatwick for a while and the excuse that was always used about them not enforcing the drop-off zones in the way they should be (I can tell you some HORROR stories about the incompetence of the people who run it) was that the drop off zones in both the North and the South were actually public roads. They simply could not issue their own tickets and up until a couple of years ago had the last official Police run traffic wardens in place.

n fact, one of the main problems was HGV lorry drivers not using commercial sat navs and trying to drive through both terminals with the South, in particular, an utter nightmare because of it.

And now we get this.

Gatwick is essentially a shopping centre with a run-way attached. That is the mentality of the people who run it. You need to stop thinking of it primarily as an airport.

And like all such places, all they ever want to do is somehow stiff people who park there.

Suspect this is purely about them being desperate to somehow bump up revenue and willing to take the risk of all the tickets issued being turned over at a later stage.

I have a feeling that Stansted introduced drop-off charges some while ago.
I have no idea if Heathrow charge for drop-offs.

Birmingham Airport is the best place for drop offs as you can drop people off at Birmingham International station and they can take the monorail over to the airport which is free of charge.

Picking up people from Birmingham can be a bit of a problem though as there is a small car park which is free for 20 minutes but tends to be full of Uber taxis waiting for a fare

EFA

Croydon Airport.
I was only a young boy when it closed !

LOL. Such a wasted piece of land now. But the terminal building itself is still quite a pleasant place to while away an hour or so over a coffee.

An asset that Croydon, like so much else, seems to fail to make the most of.