AIRPORT DROP OFF RIP OFF’
BIRMINGHAM for 10 mins in drop-off zone BOURNEMOUTH for 30 mins in drop-off zone BRISTOL for 10 mins in drop-off zone EAST MIDLANDS for 10 mins in drop-off zone GLASGOW for 10 mins in pick-up zone LIVERPOOL for 20 mins in pick-up zone GATWICK for 30 mins pick-up in short stay HEATHROW 30 mins pick-up in short stay LUTON for 10 mins in drop-off zone STANSTED for 10 mins in drop-off zone SOUTHAMPTON for 10 mins in short stay SIMON Webbe reckoned he was set to be a “bachelor bachelor for li life” until he met the woman who is maki making him smile all the way to the aisle. The smitten ex-Blu ex-Blue star admits: “I thought I’d be one of those g guys who is 60 years old, sitting in his room looking at his posters and his Brit Awa Awards, watching DVDs of myself and saying,sayi ‘Yeah, that’s me’. “But that’s not happening now. Everything’s ta taken a turn for the positive. I’m so hap happy with my fiancée.” Simon, 39, p proposed to 37-year-old Ayshen Kemal in Jamaica in February, after a year an and a half together. When he is asked how the relationship is going, he says: “Perfectly.” He reveals:reveal “I never thought I’d want to get married, but when you SOARING numbers of drivers are hit by rip-off airport parking charges as they drop off or pick up loved ones.
All but five of Britain’s 30 airports impose the “kiss and fly” charge to wait just a few minutes outside terminals, our survey shows.
Drivers who exceed the limit get a hefty fine or face being towed away. Drop-off fees range from £3.50 for 10 know you know. I never believed that saying but now I get that. Everything about us fits.
“Even though she’s Turkish and I’m British and I come from a West Indian family, we have similarities that are unbelievable.
“We’re proper goofy together. I make a noise and she looks and says, ‘That’s the noise I’m thinking about in my head’. We have telepathy.
“We can stare into each other’s eyes longingly and embarrass each other.
“She makes me feel uncomfortable, that butterfly feeling. And it’s still going after 18 months.”
Simon has a lengthy history of failed relationships, including romances with Ex on the Beach beauty Jess Impiazzi, actress Layla Manoochehri and glamour model Natalie Denning.
He has a daughter Alanah, 20, with former girlfriend Nicola Jones.
But the happiness he has found with Ayshen has turned his life around – and brought the music back into it as well.
His new album, 11 years since last solo release Grace, is tellingly called Smile. Simon says: “She enabled me to write this album. I’m in a different place, so it’s easy to write happy stuff. There are quite a few songs about her.”
He recalls how he first bumped into Ayshen at a Soccer Six match in 2009. He says: “She was with someone, but I saw her and thought, ‘That girl is amazing’.
“It’s going to be her fairytale wedding, she’s very family orientated.”
Simon, who shot to fame in boy band Blue in 2000, has previously opened up about how depression had turned him into a near recluse.
He says: “I still have days when I’m in the dumps, I take each day as it comes. I don’t think there’s a cure, but I’d like to think it’s a distant memory.” minutes at Stansted to £1 at Bristol. Liverpool charges £2 for 20 minutes and Bournemouth £3 for half an hour.
Pick-up at Heathrow’s short-stay car parks costs from £3.60 to £4.60 for 30 minutes – although drop-off is free.
Airports say the charges are to tackle congestion. But consumer watchdogs call it a “tax” on families.
James Walker, of consumer website Resolver, said: “Many people will be shocked to learn airports charge them for picking up a family member, friend or partner. Given delays, baggage reclaim and security queues it’s virtually impossible to time it so it’s free.
“There’s a serious impact on people with mobility issues or older people. Airports shouldn’t tax families for being there to help them.”
The Airport Operators Association said: “Airports that operate drop-off charges do so for different reasons, including helping manage congestion and limiting the environmental impacts of kiss and fly journeys.”