Drivers to be hit with £1 charge every time they drop off at Aberdeen airport Airport insists plan is necessary to reduce congestion and improve safety Staff will use a licence plate surveillance technique to monitor drivers Aberdeen taxi drivers say charges are unfair and will lead to higher fares Motorists are to be hit with a £1 charge every time they drop off family or friends at Aberdeen International Airport and they will face a fine if they linger for over 10 minutes. The plan has been met with anger from visitors and taxi drivers but airport officials insist the fee and £30 parking fine are necessary to reduce congestion and improve safety in drop-off zones. Drivers will be monitored with an automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) system when the charges come into effect on January 7, The Press and Journal reported. Motorists will be hit with a £30 fine if they stay for longer than 10 minutes in the drop-off zone Carol Benzie, Aberdeen airport's managing director, told the newspaper that management are concerned about the safety of visitors and staff. She said: "An increase in traffic using the airport has resulted in some examples of dangerous behaviour among drivers and the new system will allow us to better manage that behaviour." 21 shares But the plan has been blasted by non-airport taxi drivers, who say they were not consulted before the charges were announced. They warn that it will likely lead to higher fares for airport journeys as only official airport taxis will be exempt from the charge, and there are fears the fee could increase in the future. And the worry on a larger scale is that other airports could follow suit, charging for what could be a drop off of a matter of seconds. Unfair? Non-official airport taxis will be forced to pay the £1 fee every time they drop off customers Stevie Robertson, a taxi representative for the Unite union, said: "It seems an unfair charge to be passed onto the customers. We don't want to do that but it's a cost that's being imposed that we have very little control over. Coaches will also have to pay the fee while disabled motorists with blue badges will be granted a 30-minute grace period. The charged forecourt area will be controlled by barriers, with drivers being asked to pay on exit, The Press and Journal reported. Heathrow Airport Holdings recently sold Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports to Spanish firm Ferrovial and Australia-based Macquarie in a deal worth £1bn.