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Durham Tees Valley Airport brings in free parking

Bosses at Durham Tees Valley Airport have introduced free parking for those staying up to three hours.

The scheme was announced by Airport strategic planning director Peter Nears when he addressed a meeting of the Darlington Business Club held at the St George Hotel at the Airport.

Mr Nears explained that the new scheme—which will also allow parking for up to eight hours at just £5, well below the rates charged at many other airports—was in response to comments received during the recent consultation over the airport’s draft Master Plan and also linked in with the plans to attract more businesses to the site.

Free parking will be available in the main car park for up to three hours, meaning that motorists will no longer need to use the old drop off-pick up area where up to now there has been free parking for just 15 minutes.

Mr Nears said: “This is quite a different approach to that being taken by many other airport operators. The three hours free parking is a much better deal than is available at many other airports, as is the £5 charge for up to eight hours which we are introducing.

“A number of responses during the Master Plan consultation asked us to look at parking charges and that is exactly what we done. It should certainly be of immediate benefit for anyone ‘meeting and greeting’ passengers and in the longer run, as we move forward in our development plans, it should be of real benefit to businesses operating at the airport

“There is the convenience of being able to be so close to the terminal plus the safety and security of a car park which has gained ‘Park Mark’ recognition under the safer scheme managed by the British Parking Association and supported by the police and Government.”

Patrick Masheder, chairman of Darlington Business Club, added: “Our members were very interested to hear about the development plans for Durham Tees Valley Airport and put a raft of questions to Mr Nears. Our Club’s aim is to support local businesses, to share knowledge and promote business growth and we ticked all those boxes at our February meeting.

“We were delighted to be the first to hear about the new parking arrangements that have come as a result of the airport’s consultation process and we look forward to hearing further positive news.”

Longer-term parking charges will also compare favourably with other regional airports and big savings of up to 30 per cent can be made by pre-booking through the DTVA website www.durhamteesvalleyairport.com with the guarantee that they will be the best available.