UK airport car parking most expensive in world
21.02.10
Brits jetting off on holiday are being hit by some of the priciest airport parking in the world, the News of the World reports. They can end up paying as much to park the car as for their holiday, and much more than their flight with a budget airline, a survey by the newspaper reveals. And it found a huge variation in prices across the country, 'creating a postcode lottery for holidaymakers depending on their local hub'.
At East Midlands Airport, passengers pay £115 for 15 nights in a short stay park. At Manchester it costs £405, yet nearby Blackpool airport offers 15 days free - however the newspaper fails to add that passengers must pay a £5 per person fee to use the airport.
Pre-booking airport car parking over the internet can save between 11 and 78 percent - especially using an UK airport car parking price comparison website - and the newspaper advises passengers to give up the convenience of short stay car parks, which are closer to terminals, and use long stay ones - which can easily halve the parking bill.
For example, at Heathrow on a two-week trip pre-booking a long-stay car park instead of driving up to short stay, the bill is slashed from £703 to £75.95., At Liverpool Airport , using the long stay option trims a fortnight's stay from £420 to £120, and pre-booking it brings the price down to £47.
Parking in long-stay can involve a bus ride of 5 to 15 minutes at some airports - but it is just a short walk at many others, including Newcastle, some Manchester terminals, East Midlands, Edinburgh, London City, Robin Hood and Belfast.
Another option is to pre-book off-site parking and face a short bus ride in to the airport. At Manchester this can get you 15 days for just £39.68 - rather than the £405 short stay price, the newspaper reports. This is particularly important for passengers flying from Gatwick, where there is a good choice of off airport parking close to the terminal, and the airport's official on airport long stay car parks are also bus ride from the terminal too. Booking off airport at Gatwick can reduce the parking bill by 50 - 75%. And at Heathrow the bus takes you past an 'off airport' car park on the way to its official 'on airport' parking!
Comparing the price of car parking worldwide, the newspaper discovered that the Heathrow bill of £703 for 15 days in the stay was way higher than other major cities abroad. In Milan, Italians pay just £153.21 and in New York it is only £194.64. Madrid's short stay charges £211.89, Sydney's costs £274.44 and Cape Town's £110.98.
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