UK airport parking most expansive in the world

21.02.10

Brits jetting off from the UK are being face 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 at the airport as for their holiday, and much more than their flight with a budget airline, a survey by the newspaper reveals.

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, for example, passengers pay £115 for 15 nights in a short stay park. At Manchester - owned by the same company - it costs £405, and at nearby Blackpool 15 days parking is free - however passengers must pay a £5 per person fee to use the airport.

Pre-booking airport car parking o can save between 11 and 78 percent - especially using an UK airport car parking price comparison website such as this one. The newspaper also advises passengers to give up the convenience of short stay car parks, which are closer to the terminal, and use long stay ones - which can easily halve the car parking bill.

For example, at Heathrow on a 2 week stay pre-booking a long-term 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 brings the price down to £47.

Parking in long-stay can involve a bus ride of 5 - 15 minutes at some airports - but it is just a short walk at many others, including at Newcastle, some Manchester terminals, East Midlands, Edinburgh, London City, Robin Hood and Belfast.

Another option is to pre-book off-site parking and add a short bus ride in to the airport. 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. 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!

Add to: del.icio.us | Digg it | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit

Don't forget, to book a gatwick airport hotel or gatwick airport car park at the lowest price click on these links to gatwick car parking and gatwick hotel price comparison pages.

© TMC Limited. All rights reserved.