Guide 1 · By H · September 2026
Taxi or private hire? The difference, and why it matters when you're flying
People search for "taxi to Gatwick" and "taxi from Heathrow" every day, then book something that isn't a taxi at all. That's not a trick. It's how most airport runs in Britain work. Here's the difference in plain English.
A taxi can be hailed
A taxi, properly a hackney carriage, is licensed to be flagged down in the street or picked up from a rank. That's the whole point of it: no booking, meter running, off you go. It's brilliant for two miles across town at 11pm. It's a strange way to get to an airport at 4am, because the meter keeps ticking through every roadwork and the price is whatever it ends up being.
Private hire must be pre-booked
A private hire car can only take a journey that was booked in advance through a licensed operator. The driver, the car and the operator are each licensed by the council, every booking is recorded, and the price is agreed before anyone gets in. You can't wave one down. That sounds like a limitation until you're standing outside your house with three cases at 4:15am, and it turns out to be the entire advantage.
Why it matters for an airport run
- The price is fixed. Worthing to Gatwick is £80 with us, whether the M23 is empty or crawling. A meter can't promise that.
- Someone is responsible for you. A booking has a name, a time and a record. That's how we can text you the night before, track your flight and have a standby driver ready.
- It's planned around the flight, not the queue. Pickup time is worked back from take-off and the airport's own advice, not from whoever is next on the rank.
- The extras are sorted. Child seats fitted before we arrive, and the airport drop-off charge already inside the fare.
So, are we a taxi?
No. Sussex Airlink is a licensed private hire operator. If you were searching for a taxi to Gatwick or a taxi from Heathrow, this is the pre-booked version: the same door-to-door trip, with no meter and no surprises. Book it, and it turns up. Airport run? Airlink it.
How to check any car you get into
A licensed private hire car carries the council's plate, usually on the back, and the driver wears a council badge. An operator will always confirm your booking in writing. If a car turns up with none of those, don't get in, whatever it's called.
Guide 2 · By H · September 2026
Airport drop-off charges in 2026: what you'll pay, and how to skip them
The forecourt outside the terminal is now the most expensive ten minutes of most holidays. Charges went up again in January, and one airport that used to be free started charging. Here's what each airport we serve asks for, correct as of September 2026, and what happens if you forget to pay.
The charges, airport by airport
- Gatwick: £10 for up to 10 minutes at either terminal, then £1 a minute up to 20 minutes, 30 minutes maximum and a £30 daily cap. It was £7 in 2025.
- Heathrow: £7 per visit to the terminal forecourt, 10 minutes maximum.
- Stansted: £10 for up to 15 minutes, and £28 if you stay longer.
- Luton: £7 for 10 minutes, then £1 a minute up to 30.
- London City: £8 for 5 minutes, then £1 a minute up to 10. City was free until the end of 2025.
- Southampton: £7 for 20 minutes.
Across the twenty busiest UK airports, the average charge for the nearest drop-off point rose by about a third in a year, to £7. Sixteen of the twenty put their prices up or introduced one.
The catch: nobody takes your money at the kerb
Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted and Luton all use number-plate cameras with no barrier. You drive in, drop off, drive out, and then you have to remember to pay online or by phone by midnight the following day. Forget, and Gatwick sends a £100 parking charge notice, reduced to £60 if you pay within 14 days. That's the bit that catches people on the first morning of a holiday, and again a week later when the letter lands.
The free ways in
Every airport keeps a free option further out. At Gatwick it's the Long Stay car parks, free for two hours with a shuttle bus to the terminal; allow an extra twenty minutes. Luton's Long Stay is also free for two hours, and Heathrow and Stansted have free zones with a bus or a walk. Don't stop on the approach roads, verges or bus stops instead. They're camera-enforced too, and the fine is bigger than the charge.
What we do about it
Nothing, because you don't have to. Every Sussex Airlink fare includes the airport's drop-off charge, so £80 to Gatwick means £80. No portal, no midnight deadline, no letter. For pickups we don't sit in the drop-off zone either, because at Gatwick that's a separate charge; your driver waits in arrivals with a name board and the car is in the short-stay car park, also inside the fare.
Charges change without much notice. If you're driving yourself, check the airport's own page the day before.