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A father has accused an airport of trying to squeeze more money out of customers by replacing its drop-off pay machines with an online payment system.
Max Hotopf said he noticed the machine to pay for parking was gone when dropping off his daughter at Stansted Airport on January 5.
He then discovered he had to pay online within 48 hours or risk a hefty fine – after the airport launched a barrierless payment system last year.
Mr Hotopf, CEO of Healthcare Business International, said it feels as though the airport is relying on people to ‘forget’ about the payment in order to rake in more money.
Stansted Airport denied the claim and said the change was made to ‘simplify the drop off and pick up process’.
Heathrow, Gatwick, Birmingham, Manchester and Luton airports, among others, have also introduced the change.
Mr Hotopf was recently caught out by the same system at Heathrow after dropping off his son and forgetting to pay – and has now been slapped with an £80 fine.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘Inevitably, a certain percentage of people are going to forget as I did at Heathrow. I think I remembered it after 55 hours.
‘I think it’s a bit disgraceful really.’
Max Hotopf (pictured) has accused an airport of trying to squeeze more money out of customers by replacing its drop-off pay machines with an online payment system
Stansted Airport (pictured) launched a barrierless payment system last year
Stansted said the new system was also introduced to improve traffic flow and reduce congestion.
But Mr Hotopf said: ‘I think that’s rubbish because there would have been space before for about seven or eight cars.
‘They’re just trying to maximise their profits.’
It comes after the news that Gatwick Airport became the UK’s most expensive airport for drop-off fees this month, after it hiked charges to £10.
It previously charged £7 per entry to the drop-off zone, which is enforced by automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras at the entrance to the airport.
The price hike, which brings them well ahead of any other UK airport’s fees, was defended by the airport – who blamed the increase on higher operating costs, stoked by Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ rising business rates.
A spokesman for Gatwick said: ‘This increase in the drop-off charge is not a decision we have taken lightly.
‘However, we are facing a number of increasing costs, including a more than doubling of our business rates.
‘The increase in the drop-off charge will support wider efforts to encourage greater use of public transport, helping limit the number of cars and reduce congestion at the entrance to our terminals, alongside funding a number of sustainable transport initiatives.’
It is still possible to avoid the fee when dropping people off at the airport by going to the long-stay car park, where travellers can then catch the free shuttle bus to the flight terminals.