The secret Gatwick hack to avoid paying £5 drop-off charge

A BUDGET traveller has revealed how she avoids paying the £5 drop-off charge at Gatwick Airport.

TikTok user Lucy, who goes by the name Footluce, often shares her holiday tips when travelling on a budget.

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Her recent video showed how she gets to Gatwick Airport without paying the £5 drop-off fee.

The video, which has been watched more than 1.3million times, was captioned: “You refuse to pay the £5 drop-off charge at Gatwick so you take the Shell shortcut.”

She then showed herself getting dropped off at the Shell Garage, which was “literally two minutes” from the terminal.

She wrote in the comments: “Budget travel starts at the airport huns.”

Lucy also said this was best for the North Terminal but for the South Terminal to use the shuttle.

One person said: “Literally going to Gatwick tomorrow, so tysm!”

Another said: “Don’t blame you , airports are such a rip off for dropping off.”

However, many said to be careful as some airport petrol stations have started issuing tickets for people caught doing this.

In 2019, a mum was fined £60 for collecting her daughter from arrivals while she was filling her car with petrol at East Midlands Airport, along with another couple who were also stung.

One person said in her video comments: “Make sure the Shell car park doesn’t give you a ticket, they’ve been known to in the past.”

And someone who works at Gatwick commented: “If you don’t buy anything, you get a ticket.”

However, Lucy said she hasn’t had a fine yet for the clever trick.

If you don’t want to try it for yourself, there is the long stay carpark at Gatwick, which has a free shuttle service.

Earlier this year, a fuming husband was hit with a £100 fine after pulling over for “45 seconds” at Bristol Airport during a massive panic attack.

Most airports have drop-off charges – here is how to pay them at Heathrow Airport.

And here are some of the other pricey UK airport fees and how to avoid them.

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