The short answer
There is no £5 cap. What exists is a requirement, written into the Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill, for the Transport Secretary to review the impact of airport drop-off charges and publish the review within six months of the Bill becoming law. The government has tabled an amendment to make that 12 months. The Bill is still going through Parliament, and the review would not, by itself, set or cap any charge.
Checked against Parliament's own pages on 17 Oct 2026. We'll update this page as the Bill progresses. Airport charges below are from our dataset, each verified against the airport's own website.
What the Bill actually says
The review is clause 7 of the Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill, as it reached the Commons:
(1) The Secretary of State must, within six months of the day on which this Act is passed, conduct and publish a review of the impact of airport drop-off charges on users of airport services in the United Kingdom.
(2) The Secretary of State must lay a copy of the review before both Houses of Parliament.
(3) In this section, "drop-off charge" means any charge levied by an airport operator on a vehicle entering a terminal forecourt or designated kerbside area for the purpose of setting down one or more passengers.
Three things follow from the wording. It is a review, not a price control: it sets no cap and requires no free option. It covers setting down passengers; pick-up charges are not mentioned. And the clock only starts when the Bill becomes law, which hasn't happened yet.
How it got here
The review was not the government's idea. In June the government said it had no plans to regulate the charges; the review was added in the House of Lords against its wishes, and the government now says it doesn't object, though it wants more time for it.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| 23 Jun 2026 | The aviation minister, Keir Mather, answers a written question: "The department has no plans to regulate car parking and drop-off charges at UK airports." (written answer) |
| 13 Jul 2026 | At report stage in the House of Lords, peers vote 142 to 138 for an amendment from the Conservative peer Lord Moylan requiring a review of drop-off charges, against the government. (Lords minutes, Commons Library briefing) |
| 23 Jul 2026 | The RAC publishes its analysis: 16 of the 20 busiest UK airports had raised their drop-off charge since the previous summer, with the average up by £1.70 to £7. (RAC) |
| 9 Sep 2026 | At the Bill's second reading in the Commons, the minister is reported as saying the government has "no objection to conducting a review of this matter", although it needed "to think carefully about the terms of such a review and about the time that it will take". (reported by TaxiPoint) |
| 1 Oct 2026 | The Scottish Parliament's transport committee recommends consent to the review clause, noting that the UK government will involve the Scottish Government in scoping the review and that its recommendations would be non-binding. (committee report) |
| 7 Oct 2026 | The Scottish Parliament agrees, without a vote, to consent to the review clause (motion S7M-01497). (motion) |
| 13 Oct 2026 | The government tables amendments to give the review 12 months instead of six, and to bring the clause into force on Royal Assent. (amendment paper) |
| 14 Oct 2026 | The parliamentary petition for a £5 cap closes with 1,286 signatures, short of the 10,000 needed for a government response. The RAC welcomes the review. (petition, RAC) |
| 20 Oct 2026 | The Commons committee examining the Bill is due to sit on 20 and 22 October. (Bill stages) |
Where the £5 cap comes from
A parliamentary petition asked the government to "cap airport drop-off and pick-up charges at £5 across all UK airports". It closed on 14 October 2026 with 1,286 signatures; petitions need 10,000 for a government response, so there was none.
At least one news report in October (Business Traveller, 15 October) said an amendment to the Bill "calls for the Secretary of State to publish proposals for a £5 airport drop-off cap". We checked every amendment paper published for the Bill up to 14 October 2026, and the Lords amendment lists before them: none mentions £5, a cap or a maximum charge. The only drop-off amendments tabled in the Commons are the government's, which change the review's timing. Amendments can still be tabled while the Commons committee sits, so we'll check again after 22 October.
Other groups have called for caps of their own; none is government policy. The government's line in October, given to journalists by the Department for Transport, was that it hoped airports would "exercise restraint on rises".
If a £5 cap did happen: what it would mean at each airport
This is hypothetical: nobody has proposed how a cap would work. Measured against each airport's headline charge, 20 of the 29 airports we track charge more than £5, led by London Gatwick and London Stansted at £10; 9 already charge £5 or less, or nothing. A cap on the headline price would also say nothing about how long it buys: £5 for 5 minutes and £5 for an hour are very different deals, and overstay charges would be a separate question.
| Airport | Charge now | For | Under a £5 cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| London Gatwick | £10 | up to 10 minutes | £5 less |
| London Stansted | £10 | up to 15 minutes | £5 less |
| London Luton | £9 | up to 12 minutes | £4 less |
| Bristol | £8.50 | up to 10 minutes | £3.50 less |
| Edinburgh | £8.50 | up to 10 minutes | £3.50 less |
| Birmingham | £8 | up to 15 minutes | £3 less |
| Bournemouth | £8 | up to 30 minutes | £3 less |
| East Midlands | £8 | up to 10 minutes | £3 less |
| Exeter | £8 | up to 15 minutes | £3 less |
| Leeds Bradford | £8 | up to 10 minutes | £3 less |
| London City | £8 | up to 5 minutes | £3 less |
| London Southend | £8 | up to 10 minutes | £3 less |
| Norwich | £8 | up to 20 minutes | £3 less |
| Aberdeen | £7 | up to 15 minutes | £2 less |
| Glasgow | £7 | up to 15 minutes | £2 less |
| Liverpool John Lennon | £7 | up to 10 minutes | £2 less |
| London Heathrow | £7 | each entry | £2 less |
| Southampton | £7 | up to 20 minutes | £2 less |
| Newcastle | £6 | up to 10 minutes | £1 less |
| Manchester | £5.50 | up to 5 minutes | £0.50 less |
| Belfast International | £5 | up to 10 minutes | Already at or under £5 |
| Cardiff Wales | £4.50 | up to 10 minutes | Already at or under £5 |
| Glasgow Prestwick | £4.50 | up to 60 minutes | Already at or under £5 |
| Belfast City | £4 | up to 10 minutes | Already at or under £5 |
| Inverness | £3.90 | up to 30 minutes | Already at or under £5 |
| Teesside | £2.50 | up to 10 minutes | Already at or under £5 |
| City of Derry | £1 | up to 20 minutes | Already at or under £5 |
| Cornwall Newquay | Free | up to 10 minutes | Already at or under £5 |
| Humberside | Free | up to 15 minutes | Already at or under £5 |
Each airport's charge is from its own website; follow the airport's name for the verified date and the full rules.
Scotland
Because the review touches the cost of private parking, the Scottish Government treats it as a devolved matter needing Holyrood's consent. The Scottish Parliament's transport committee recommended consent on 1 October 2026, noting the UK government's promise to involve the Scottish Government in scoping the review and that any recommendations would be non-binding. The Scottish Government says the UK government will also meet the costs of the review (supplementary consent memorandum). The Scottish Parliament agreed the consent motion without a vote on 7 October 2026 (S7M-01497).
What happens next
The Commons committee examining the Bill is due to sit on 20 and 22 October 2026, when it can debate the government's amendments, including the change from six months to 12. After that the Bill has its remaining Commons stages. Once it becomes law, the clock starts on the review. Until then, every charge stays a commercial decision for each airport, and you can follow every change on our updates page.
The review and the £5 cap: your questions
Is there a £5 cap on airport drop-off charges?
No. No cap has been proposed by the government or in any amendment to the Bill published up to 14 October 2026. A parliamentary petition asked for a £5 cap but closed with 1,286 signatures and no government response.
What has the government agreed to?
A review. The Civil Aviation (Consumer Protection and Regulatory Reform) Bill requires the Transport Secretary to review the impact of airport drop-off charges and publish the review within six months of the Bill becoming law. The government has tabled an amendment to make it 12 months.
Who added the drop-off review to the Bill?
The Conservative peer Lord Moylan. His amendment was passed in the House of Lords on 13 July 2026 by 142 votes to 138, against the government.
When will the review happen?
Not until the Bill becomes law. It then has six months, or 12 if the government's amendment is agreed, to be carried out and published.
Does the review cover pick-up charges?
The clause defines a drop-off charge as a charge on a vehicle entering a terminal forecourt or kerbside area to set down passengers. Pick-up charges are not mentioned.
Which airports charge more than £5 to drop off?
20 of the 29 airports we track, on their headline charge: London Gatwick (£10), London Stansted (£10), London Luton (£9), Bristol (£8.50), Edinburgh (£8.50), Birmingham (£8), Bournemouth (£8), East Midlands (£8), Exeter (£8), Leeds Bradford (£8), London City (£8), London Southend (£8), Norwich (£8), Aberdeen (£7), Glasgow (£7), Liverpool John Lennon (£7), London Heathrow (£7), Southampton (£7), Newcastle (£6) and Manchester (£5.50).
Which airports charge £5 or less?
Belfast International (£5), Cardiff Wales (£4.50), Glasgow Prestwick (£4.50), Belfast City (£4), Inverness (£3.90), Teesside (£2.50), City of Derry (£1), Cornwall Newquay (free) and Humberside (free).
Will airport drop-off charges go down?
Not because of the review on its own: it would not set or cap any charge, and the Scottish Government has noted its recommendations would be non-binding. Until any change in the law, each airport sets its own charge.
Method & corrections
Every charge on this page is checked against the airport's own published charges and stamped with the date we checked it. We re-verify the full dataset quarterly, and after any reported change — see how we check every figure and who maintains the site.
Spotted an error? Email hello@airportdropoffcharges.co.uk — corrections are made visibly and dated. The dataset behind this page is free to reuse with attribution: JSON · CSV (CC BY 4.0) — about the data.