Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me Simon Calder. It's Wednesday the 18th of

September. If you've used a big UK airport recently, particularly if you've driven there, you will be

aware that there are very typically signs saying you're going to have to pay five, six, seven pounds to drop somebody off. And there's other signs saying, by the way, if you're going to have to pay five, six, seven pounds to drop somebody off.

And there's other signs saying, by the way, if you decide to freelance as it were

and decide to drop somebody off outside the appointed zone and without paying,

then we are going to send you a big bill for your trouble.

The airports say that they make it absolutely clear what the rules are

and there will certainly have been thousands, possibly tens of thousands of motorists who have paid

high penalties for contravening the rules, most typically by stopping somewhere they're not supposed to stop. However, I am

intrigued to learn from Gary Rycroft. Of course, he is the leading consumer lawyer. You

would have seen him on Morning Live or Rip Off Britain, or maybe read his very good column in the

Telegraph, whatever that is. And he believes that actually it might be the

case that these penalties are not as enforceable as they might be. Gary, what do you mean by that?

Surely, I know what the rules are, I break the rules, I get fined. I'm one of those

motorists Simon because when my daughter came back from a trip recently I was at a

well-known airport in the north of England which I won't name and I managed to

coordinate it very well that I let her know that I was on the approach road to the

airport. She left the airport terminal and got herself to a zebra crossing that I was on the approach road to the airport. She left the airport terminal

and got herself to a zebra crossing. So I was able to stop at the zebra crossing and then

let her into the vehicle very seamless. So only obeying the laws of the land for motoring and

that must have been great. It was great. I was only obeying the highway code and that's why I stopped.

But as you quite rightly say, lots of motorists up and down the land at various airports have been

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