Yahoo News Manchester Airport charged dad £100 for '20 seconds' parking to pick up daughter
A father was left seething after a brief stop to pick up his daughter from Manchester Airport resulted in a hefty £100 fine.
Lee Mellor, 54, was getting his daughter from Terminal 3 following her ski trip on Saturday (January 25). As he approached the multi-storey car park, he noticed his 25-year-old daughter waiting at the drop-off area with all her gear.
Mr Mellor decided to park in the drop-off zone for around "20 seconds" to collect his daughter. However, before he could depart, an airport employee in an orange vest informed him of a £100 charge for using the drop-off area for pick-ups.
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"He had a real smile on his face which really got to me," said Mr Mellor. The irate dad, from Bolton, then drove his white Tesla towards the barriers and pressed the call button to speak with an operator who confirmed the £100 fine.
After some back-and-forth, during which Mr Mellor stated he couldn't pay the fine and the operator offered to call someone to cover the cost, the fee was reduced to £60. Despite reluctantly paying the fine, Mr Mellor has since lodged a complaint with the airport.
"If I didn't have my daughter in the car, I would have rung the police because this is extortion," he told the M.E.N. "It's been keeping me awake.
"I was shaking. I was so angry. It was the look on his face that really angered me. It was almost like, 'we caught a fish'.
"I can't believe they're getting away with it. If he said this is going to be £1,000, there would have been absolutely nothing I could do about it."
Manchester Airport introduced drop off and pick up fees in July 2018. In the pick-up area, drivers pay £6.20 for up 15 minutes with the cost rising to £12.40 for a 45 to 60 minute stay, while in the drop off area drivers pay £5 for up to five minutes and £25 if they stay for more than 10 minutes.
However, there are fines for people who 'misuse' the system which is aimed at easing traffic flow at the airport.
A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: "Our drop-off areas are reserved for drivers who are dropping passengers off. Picking passengers up from them is not permitted under any circumstances because the dwell time when picking passengers up is longer and it would mean the drop-off areas would become congested and unavailable to those who need them.
"Passengers being picked up after a flight should use our designated pick-up areas. These are positioned close to the arrivals areas in all three terminals and have greater capacity than the drop-off areas to allow for the longer dwell times involved when collecting passengers.
"A charge of £6.20 for 15 minutes, £8 for 30 minutes and then further increments up to an hour prevents these areas from being misused – fines are a further deterrent. This means you can feel assured that whether you are picking passengers up or dropping them off there will be capacity for you to do so quickly and efficiently.
"Passengers can also use a completely free pick-up and drop-off shuttle service based by our JetParks 1 car park. Buses operate 24 hours a day and the journey takes less than six minutes."
