Birmingham airport parking charge a rip-off

Today I returned to the UK from Asia after a 3 year work contract. For me to trolley my bag cost £1 followed by a £7 parking fee as my sister had stayed in the short term car park for more than 15 minutes. Out of principle I will never book a flight to or from Birmingham airport again. I work in some of the poorest countries in Asia, returning to the UK is a depressing experience that thankfully I will soon no longer have to suffer.

Agree totally. Just came back from dropping my friends and their baby off at B'ham International. Obviously followed signs for Drop and Go and only when we arrived there noticed there was a compulsory charge and "no reversing". It's the principle rather than the amount - insame charges like this just come across as "we're going to screw you for every last penny" - what a terrible image to portray. Have complained to the Manager and awaiting response...

when dropping someone off at birmingham airport I did not realize that the ticket needed to be put into the ticket machine before going to the exit barrier - this is a drop off zone not a car park so I never got out of the car and there was no obvious signage. This put me into a blind panic as I was holding up the traffic, it was dark, wet and windy and the upshot was that I lost my ticket. When directed to the NCP desk in arrivals I was horrified to find that I was being forced to pay £100 for what should have a 2 minute drop off. There is no option as they will not issue a ticket to get out of the airport until you sign a promise to pay, virtually making you a prisoner in the airport. This I consider to be immoral and unethical. I cannot believe that there are not cameras where they can see and identify the times when vehicles have arrived at the drop off zone and make an accurate assessment of charges- seems to me it is just a money making racket

when I can to pick some one up I had to pay £17 just for the hour I was the , I dont beleve this is right .i went in to the carpark that says short stay am told you the price which should have been £1.20 for the hour

I agree what a rip off. I wrote a letter to there Chief Executive regarding this matter and I might as well have written the letter to willy wonker at the choclate factory, Because its all about revenue andf profit margins.
I feel very sorry for the disabled person because although there are disabled parking spaces they are all taken up by taxi drivers and the Chief Executive knows this problem is going on but chooses to ignore the problem.

muggins here couldn't work out wherre to put the money in the ticket machine at the drop and go-- sooo embarrassing.

" I travelled from Leicester to Birmingham. I am not going to sit on a coach for 40 miles to an airport when I have my own vehicle available."

If that coach (or rail service) were cheap enough, comfortable enough, and convenient enough, my bet is that you'd use it. Public transport in the UK is a joke, and not in the funny sense either.

I spend a lot of time in Holland, where the roads are very congested, and public transport is excellent and so well coordinated that you can get from anywhere to anywhere easily and conveniently. On one trip my clients gave me a car to use. I thought I'd try it. After an hour stuck in traffic and covering 5 km I decided to hand the car back the next day. Public transport is by the far the best option.

Switzerland is another perfect example. Unless we go out for a drive or a ride at the weekend, we only use public transport. The roads once you get out of the cities are relatively uncrowded and motoring or biking there is still a pleasure.

Mike P,I shall add that I travelled from Leicester to Birmingham. I am not going to sit on a coach for 40 miles to an airport when I have my own vehicle available. I don't believe they (and others) are having-a-go at motorists to get us to use public transport. It's all a scam.

What they are driving at, if you'll pardon the pun, is encouraging people to use public transport rather than their own cars.

It is being tackled from the wrong end, they should begin by improving and subsidising public transport to the extent that peope no longer want to use their cars. Once that's done, then start taxing the hell out of motorists.

Parked my car in Birmingham airport's Rip-Off Drop-off car park (I initially attempted to park in the airport's multi-storey, but found no spaces available, and I was still charged £1 for that) last Monday, and for a 1hour 03 mins stay, was charged £17.00. Now that is what I call taking the piss!

Birmingham Airport has now scored another own goal to add to the parking fiasco, by introducing charges for trollies. Returning from Australia via Dubai on Wednesday evening 29th July, and waiting for my luggage to be dispensed via the carousel, I observed a gentleman unsuccessfully trying to get change for a bank note at the machine in order to get a trolly. He aproached three airport "workers" who were glued to a spot near the exit. They spoke to him extremely curtly and told him that if he left the heavy box he had, whilst he went back for a second try at the machine it was liable to be confiscated, so the poor man had to kick the box along the floor infront of him back to the machine.
No truly World class Airport has charges for trollies. Even Detroit abolished theirs some years ago, and having travelled to many airports throughout the world I have yet to come across this practice anywhere else. No new visitor to this country will have coins for a trolly, and the last thing a weary visitor needs after a long and often uncomfortable flight is to grapple with an unfamiliar change machine and be confronted by unhelpful staff. Inspite of the hype it is obvious that the policy making group of Birmingham airport still has a provincial mind set. Another example is the fact that there are no moving walkways on long stretches of corridor. The setting down policy has improved but it took months to get to the present arrangement; and the introduction of trolly charges, shows that policy makers lack imagination to see the consequences of their decisions. International visitors' perception of the airport cannot be very favourable. First impressions count, both for the airport and the region.

Just got back from that greed-dripping, box-ticking farce of a system.

Not only is it, as you say, a total rip-off, there was a huge jam as several drivers hadn't twigged that they really were expecting you to not drop off but park and pay before exiting. And no clear signage to deal with that not unsurprising lack of comprehension at how low these 'businesses' can sink.

So in fact the whole thing is designed to, and only increases congestion! When the bean-counters and box-tickers rule the world goes to hell.

Where I have a choice, they are no longer one of them. Interesting business model.