What was claimed
Heathrow and Gatwick airports are introducing a new £50 entry fee.
Our verdict
False. We’ve found no evidence of any such fee being announced, and Gatwick Airport said it wasn’t aware of any such charge being introduced.
Heathrow and Gatwick aren’t introducing £50 airport entry fees
Videos shared widely on Facebook claim London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports are introducing a “£50 entry fee”.
In one video, a voice apparently intended to be that of the Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer says: “I’m announcing today that next week Heathrow and Gatwick are introducing a new 50 pounds entry fee”.
This isn’t true. Heathrow and Gatwick airports do charge fees to park your car or drop off passengers at terminals, but we’ve found no credible reports either is set to introduce a new £50 charge for anyone entering the airports.
The video also begins with a short overdubbed clip of Mr Starmer, likely taken from an appearance at a parliamentary select committee in December 2024. Another likely shows Mr Starmer speaking outside Number 10 Downing Street upon becoming Prime Minister on 5 July 2024. While the voice used in these videos bears a resemblance to Mr Starmer’s, it may have been generated by AI, though we can’t rule out an impersonator was used.
Another video features a different voice appearing to mimic the style of a news broadcaster.
We could find no credible media reports of Mr Starmer making any such announcement about an entry fee for the airports, or find a record of it in Hansard, the official record of what is said in parliament.
Gatwick Airport told Full Fact it wasn’t aware of any such charge being introduced. We’ve also contacted Heathrow Airport for comment.
Join 72,953 people who trust us to check the facts
Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.
There is currently a £6 fee for vehicles dropping off passengers at Heathrow’s terminals (this is set to increase to £7 in January 2026, with a 10-minute maximum stay limit). At Gatwick the fee is currently £7 for the first 10 minutes, with an additional £1 for each additional minute up to 20 minutes. Fees are also charged for other parking at both airports.
We’ve seen similar claims to this video shared on TikTok and Instagram, as well as other examples on Facebook. Before sharing videos like this on social media, first consider whether they come from a trustworthy and verifiable source. Our Full Fact toolkit can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because there’s no evidence any such fee was announced by Sir Keir Starmer or is being introduced, and Gatwick Airport said it wasn’t aware of any such charge.