A year of tackling nuisance parking around Heathrow airport
A key part of the work of the Heathrow Area Transport Forum, which I chair, is to get all stakeholders to focus on providing more sustainable travel choices for passengers and staff. While rail (particularly the Elizabeth line), coach and bus work for many, vehicle-based travel is the current choice for most airport users.
Every day this time of year some 260,000 passengers go to or from Heathrow. Over half of those passengers use a vehicle - either dropped off by a friend or family member (so called “kiss & fly”), parking up their own car in an airport car park or, most likely, via a taxi or mini-cab.
The airport spends a lot of time trying to manage this last group of vehicles as efficiently as possible.
Black cabs have a dedicated area just north of the airport. This has good facilities and a queuing system that seems to work – cost £3. Minicabs are treated differently. Uber and Bolt drivers are ‘geo-fenced’ into the Authorised Vehicle Area (‘AVA’) – again to the north of the airport off the A4 Bath Road. Other taxis can use the area – cost £1 per hour. Facilities here are more basic.
However, Black cab and private hire drivers can and do park legally or otherwise in the surrounding areas. Heathrow is surrounded by some quite rural communities as well as areas of denser population to the west. Parking restrictions in residential areas differ between the various local authorities and enforcement is, understandably, patchy. Professional drivers often spot approaching enforcement officers and simply move on before they can be caught and ticketed.
Just to complicate the picture further, the rise of rogue meet & greet parking companies - who offer to park your car for a very competitive price in ‘secure’ facilities that turn out to be a local residential street - has led to even more pressure on the kerbside.
Finally, layer onto this employees working onsite who don’t have access to car parking spaces on the airport campus (or perhaps have a non-ULEZ compliant vehicle and don’t want to risk a fine); alongside HGV drivers awaiting a call in to the main cargo centre - which incredibly still largely operates on a first come first served basis as it has done for decades - and you can see why local communities can feel under siege every time they leave their own homes.
So, inevitably, there is a lot of anti-social behaviour – urination and defecation, littering and idling in addition to the parking and vehicle movements generated. Local residents who challenge drivers are met sometimes with aggression. Local people shouldn’t have to put up with this.
The solution
To tackle this, the Heathrow Area Transport Forum, working with Heathrow’s Local Community Forum pulled together all the stakeholders who are needed to sort this problem: Heathrow Airport, local authorities, the police, the British Parking Association, Transport for London and others into a Parking Special Interest Group. We’ve been meeting for a year now and are starting to get results.
Parking Special Interest Group Progress
Highlights include:
· Spelthorne Council have introduced a first of it’s type Public Space Protection Order preventing the use of the kerbside by taxis and mini-cabs in residential areas immediately adjacent to the airport. This came into effect on 28 May 2024 and has already resulted in the issuing of 1052 written warnings and 177 Fixed Penalty Notices. The numbers of taxis and mini-cabs now being found on neighbourhood roads are starting to fall rapidly, suggesting that the introduction of this new prohibition has indeed helped to control this anti-social behaviour. We were delighted that Hillingdon is currently consulting on introducing a similar restriction, and we’re encouraging other local authorities to explore doing the same, bringing a sense of consistency to restrictions across the Heathrow area that should aid compliance.
Supported by Heathrow, Slough Borough Council are installing new Controlled Parking Zones in Colnbrook. These will help deter non-residential use of the kerbside and should be live early in 2025.
To tackle the scourge of rogue meet & greet operators we have been encouraging the British Parking Association to introduce a new code of conduct and Chartermark for operators. We were therefore delighted to see the new Approved Meet & Greet Operator Scheme go live in the summer. This scheme introduces tough new requirements on these firms to ensure they store vehicles safely, in accredited locations. There are also plans for a widespread communications campaign at potential customers to support uptake.
Following our recommendation, improvements have been made to the Authorised Vehicle Area for private hire drivers including a deep clean and better seating, whilst a business case to improve toilet blocks is also being developed. There is more regular ongoing monitoring of the facilities by the airport’s Surface Access team to ensure upkeep and good maintenance.
On-street signage is being distributed to the local community to help deter illegal parking and idling. A dedicated complaints form has also been set up to improve reporting.
As a group the Parking Special Interest Group put together their Local Community Parking Action Plan. The plan helps to keep them on track and accountable for all the measures they would like to implement short and long term.
Much more to do but a good start has been made. This issue will never go away completely. Cab drivers who maybe only make one journey to Heathrow a year are hard to reach with information about official parking areas. A cost for parking will deter many – cab drivers are understandably sensitive to cost. Until another AVA can be built nearer Terminal 4/5 distances will still be too great for some drivers. Enforcement cameras – the ideal solution – relating to parking issues are currently not legal – however, we will lobby the government to make an exception for the areas around Heathrow who experience specific issues.
The PSPO arrangement implemented by Spelthorne is potentially an elegant work around that could be employed by other authorities.
Data is hard to come by on this issue. Anecdotes, some unpleasant, drive the debate. However, we will continue working to disrupt this activity to a point where it becomes the exception rather than the norm. Local people deserve no less.
Anthony Smith, Chair
Heathrow Area Transport Forum & Parking Special Interest Group