Parking at Heathrow

A trip from Heathrow often starts with the drive there. Most people who drive leave the car at the airport for the whole trip. There are a few ways to do that, and each one suits a different kind of journey. This page explains the main types of parking, so you can pick the one that fits yours.

Car parks next to the terminal

The airport runs its own car parks. It says all eleven of them are owned, staffed and run by the airport itself. The closest ones are beside each terminal, a short walk from departures and arrivals. You park the car yourself and you keep your keys.

The airport says all its car parks have Blue Badge bays and are wheelchair accessible.

Park and ride

Park and ride car parks are further from the terminals. You park the car and keep your keys. A free bus then takes you to the terminal doors. The airport says the bus can take as little as 15 minutes.

Meet and greet, and valet

With meet and greet, you drive to the terminal and hand the car to a driver. The car is parked somewhere else while you are away. It is brought back to you when you land, so there is no bus and no walk. The airport runs services like this, with storage sites on the airport.

Other firms offer meet and greet too. They park cars at their own sites, which may be some way from the airport.

Dropping someone off

Sometimes a friend or a taxi does the driving. Dropping off is free at the park and ride car parks, where a free bus runs to the terminal.

Driving right up to a terminal to drop someone off is charged. The charge applies every time a vehicle enters a drop-off area, 24 hours a day. There are no barriers, and cameras read the number plate. You pay online or by phone, by midnight on the next day. People with a UK or EEA Blue Badge can apply for a full discount. The airport asks for that account to be set up at least seven days before the visit. Waiting and picking people up are not allowed in the drop-off areas.

Flying from Terminal 4

The multi-storey car park at Terminal 4 closed on 23 June 2026 so that a new one can be built. Parking for Terminal 4 has moved to one zone of a park and ride car park, with free buses to the terminal. The airport says meet and greet parking is not available at Terminal 4 while the work goes on.

Before you book

Handing over your keys means trusting the firm with your car, so a few checks are worth the time.

• Ask where the car will be kept. A car park can hold a Safer Parking award, which means it has passed a police risk assessment. The scheme has a separate award for meet and greet services.
• Ask whether the firm is insured to drive and store your car. In September 2024, Which? found one firm whose terms told customers to rely on their own car insurance.
• Look the firm up on the Companies House register. Companies House does not check the information firms file, so treat it as a starting point.
• Ask what happens if your flight home is late. At the airport's own car parks, staying past the booked time is charged at the daily rate.

If a parking charge does arrive, GOV.UK says to check the ticket, or contact whoever issued it, for the deadline and the ways to pay. POPLA is a free, independent appeals service for parking charge notices issued on private land. While an appeal is with POPLA, the parking firm must not chase you for payment.

Useful links

• Safer Parking (Park Mark) (the police-supported parking scheme)
• Which? test of airport meet and greet parking (Which?, September 2024)
• Search the Companies House register (GOV.UK)
• Parking fines and penalty charge notices (GOV.UK)
• Parking on Private Land Appeals (POPLA)