Taxi drivers who are involved in airport transfers will be interested to read that, from October 2021, Heathrow Airport will be introducing a scheme whereby vehicles, including taxis, that drop off passengers in their drop off zones at their terminals will be charged £5 every time they do so. Currently, no charge is made.

Those people dropping off airport passengers using a blue badge will not need to pay this new charge.

This news will no doubt concern a number of taxi drivers around the UK as London Heathrow is used by people all around the country flying out of the country to an overseas destination as well as to other airports in the UK. The news comes at a time when taxi drivers, like many others in the country, have gone through a difficult time from a financial perspective due to the pandemic with many still struggling financially. In fact, may taxi drivers have unfortunately gone out of business.

Apparently, you will need to purchase a ticket online, over the phone, by autopay or the automated telephone service. Automated number plate recognition will be used.

So, what can a taxi driver do from October 2021 who is dropping off passengers at one of the London Heathrow terminals? Well, they could just pay the £5 charge themselves and not charge the client anymore or they could add £5 to the cost of the fare. Obviously, that is a decision for individual taxi drivers or their firms to make.

It should be borne in mind that if a passenger is being picked up in a vehicle from one of the airport terminals at London Heathrow airport that people should not be using the drop off zone – they should be using say one of the short-stay car parks.

There are some other airports in the UK who charge air-travellers to be dropped off in their drop off zones so Heathrow airport is not alone in this.