UK airport parking most expensive in the world
21.02.10
Brits jetting off on holiday are being stung with some of the priciest airport parking fees in the world, the News of the World reports. They can even end up paying as much to park the car as for their holiday, a survey by the newspaper reveals. And the newspaper found a huge variation in prices across the country, 'creating a postcode lottery for holidaymakers depending on their local hub'.
At East Midlands Airport, travellers pay £115 for 15 nights in a short stay park. At Manchester it costs £405, yet nearby Blackpool airport offers 15 days free (however passengers must pay a £5 per person fee to use the airport).
Pre-booking parking over the internet can save between 11 and 78 percent - especially using an UK airport parking price comparison website - and the newspaper advises travellers to give up the convenience of short stay car parks, which are closer to the terminals, and use long stay ones - which can easily halve their parking bill.
For example, at Heathrow on a two-week trip pre-booking a long-stay 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 five to 15 minutes at bigger airports - but it can be just walking distance at many others, including Newcastle, some Manchester terminals, East Midlands, Edinburgh and Belfast.
Another option is to pre-book off-site parking and be bussed into the airport. At Manchester this can get you 15 days for just £39.68 - rather than £405 short stay price, the newspaper reports. This is particularly important for passengers flying from Gatwick Airport, where there is a good choice of off airport parking close to the terminal, and its on airport long stay car parks are a bus ride from the terminal too. Booking off airport at Gatwick can easily reduce the bill by 50 - 75% compared to on airport parking. 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 parking worldwide, the newspaper discovered that the Heathrow bill of £703 for 15 days in the short stay park was way higher than other major cities abroad. In normally pricey Milan, Italians pay just £153.21 and in New York it's only £194.64. Madrid's short stay park charges £211.89, Sydney's costs £274.44 and Cape Town's £110.98.
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