Call To End Airport Drop-off Fees For Blue Badge Holders

All UK airports should extremity charging bluish badge holders for being dropped disconnected adjacent to terminals, a disablement kindness has said.

Several group pinch bluish badges sewage successful touch pinch nan BBC pursuing news that much than half of nan busiest airports had raised nan alleged "kiss-and-fly" fees to arsenic precocious arsenic £7 successful immoderate cases.

Many airports already connection discounts aliases waive nan interest for abnormal drivers, but bluish badge holders opportunity nan strategy is analyzable and inconsistent.

Graham Footer, main executive of Disabled Motoring UK, said immoderate airports person "allowed greed to unreality their judgement", and argues group pinch disabilities should not person to salary nan complaint astatine all.

The BBC contacted nan 20 busiest airports successful nan UK to corroborate their argumentation connected drop-off charges for bluish badge holders.

London City does not complaint drop-off fees for immoderate benignant of passenger.

Gatwick, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Heathrow, Liverpool John Lennon and Manchester each complaint a drop-off fee, but bluish badge holders do not person to salary it.

Luton, Glasgow, Belfast International, Belfast City, East Midlands, Aberdeen, and Southampton each complaint bluish badge holders nan aforesaid arsenic different passengers for utilizing nan drop-off spaces closest to nan airport. But they besides each connection abstracted free drop-off parking specifically for bluish badge holders elsewhere.

For Glasgow and Aberdeen, this parking is only free if bluish badge holders are being dropped disconnected by family aliases friends - not if they are dropped disconnected by taxi.

All airports connection free drop-off options further from nan terminals for each passengers - not conscionable bluish badge holders - specified arsenic "park and ride" accommodation wherever group tin time off their car and return a autobus to nan airport.

Bristol, Leeds Bradford, and Bournemouth each complaint bluish badge holders for driblet disconnected but let them to enactment for longer than different passengers astatine a little fee.

Bristol charges £7 for 40 minutes, Leeds Bradford charges £7 for 60 minutes, and Bournemouth charges £5 for 4 hours because it said abnormal passengers "may require much time".

Only Cardiff, Newcastle, and Stanstead complaint nan aforesaid interest pinch nary discount astatine all.

Cardiff charges £3 for 10 minutes, Newcastle charges £5 for 10 minutes, and Stanstead charges £7 for 15 minutes.

Airports UK, which represents nan industry, said that nan champion accessible drop-off for bluish badge holders depends connected nan layout of nan airport.

"No 1 action is perfect astatine each airports, truthful to optimise entree astatine each airdrome nan connection will needfully beryllium different," it said.

It advised passengers to cheque nan airport's website earlier travelling to place nan champion drop-off location.

Most of nan airports that waive drop-off fees do truthful if a abnormal driver shows their bluish badge astatine nan airdrome connected nan day.

However, for Heathrow and Liverpool, nan exemption needs to beryllium claimed online aliases connected nan telephone either earlier aliases aft travelling. Heathrow says its online process for confirming bluish badges tin return 5 days to complete, though it told nan BBC it usually takes 48 hours.

James Williams, 67, from London finds these services difficult to use.

"I americium a bluish badge holder and I person to salary because I americium not machine literate," he says, arguing that "you person to jump done hoops to get this discount".

Jonathan Cassar, 51, from London says nan analyzable quality of online registration intends that "disabled group who request to beryllium dropped astatine terminal cannot beryllium spontaneous arsenic others can".

Heathrow said it had tried to make nan bluish badge registration process "as elemental arsenic possible" and advised anyone who needs registration urgently to get it approved complete nan phone.

Liverpool said it had introduced online confirmation "to minimise maltreatment of nan bluish badge system".

Not each bluish badge holders consciousness being charged for airdrome driblet disconnected is unfair.

Gordon Richardson, chair of nan British Polio Fellowship Board, is simply a bluish badge holder but says he is "not against nan principle" of abnormal group paying nan aforesaid arsenic non-disabled people.

He says what is astir important is that nan abstraction is accessible and easy to use.

He urges bluish badge holders to interaction airports earlier travelling truthful that nan airports tin person nan unit fresh to thief them and guarantee they get their discount aliases free parking.

Many of nan airports nan BBC contacted said their bluish badge policies had been drafted successful consultation pinch disablement groups and pinch typical information for their needs.