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JERSEY, Channel Islands — New parking changes at Jersey Airport are under fire from drivers who say the layout is confusing and the charges lack transparency, after one 80-year-old motorist was billed £36.38 (about $48) for a 12-minute stay. Ports of Jersey, the island's airport operator, said on May 12, 2026, it would review its signs after a series of public complaints.
Trevor Copp, a motorist in his 80s, told BBC Jersey he drove into the airport's new premium parking area by accident. The entrance, he said, looked similar to the older lot he had used for years, and the freshly installed signs were difficult to see in the dark. He parked, stepped out for a quick errand, and returned to find he had been charged £36.38 — roughly $48 — for 12 minutes.
"I think £3 a minute is a bit over the top," Copp said. "Exeter is quite expensive, London airports are quite expensive but £3 a minute? I said it wasn't clearly displayed by the machine."
The fee is calculated from the moment a vehicle enters the lot, which means a wrong turn can become an expensive mistake before a driver even reaches the payment machine. Copp's story has become a common example in the wider criticism of the new parking system, with islanders arguing that it punishes unfamiliar visitors and anyone arriving after dark.
The airport's parking redesign now presents four options: a long-stay lot with the first 45 minutes free, a new premium parking area, an arrivals car park, and a drop-off zone. Locals say the system forces drivers to make a split-second decision while coming off a roundabout at night, relying on signs that are easy to miss.
Steven Laffoley-Edwards, who is dyslexic, said the main approach sign reads like a paragraph rather than a direction.
"I'm quite badly dyslexic and you come off the roundabout and there's a whole menu of options on the sign to tell you where to go," he told BBC Jersey.
"The only thing I could do was slow down to a near stop, read all the options before finding where I had to go to pick someone up. I think the signage just needs to be shorter, clearer, bigger and bolder."
Parking is only part of a much larger transformation. The departures terminal, which opened in 1997, is in the middle of a £10 million (about $13 million) modernization, and the new parking zones come alongside that project.
Fergus Winchester said his concern goes beyond parking charges. "The Ports of Jersey have destroyed the unique character of the airport... departing through a faceless cafe when I passed through I could have been anywhere," he told BBC Jersey.
For islanders like Winchester, the airport is more than infrastructure: it's the first and last impression visitors take of Jersey. The complaints about parking, in his view, are part of a broader worry that the modernization is making the airport feel generic — the same faceless terminal you'd find at any mid-sized airport in any country.
Deputy Samantha Gleave, who chairs Jersey's Economic and International Affairs Panel, acknowledged the redesign has caught some drivers off guard.
"It's a change of layout and some people have been really used to it operating in a certain way and have gone in without really looking at the signs," she said.
She said the airport is aware of the criticism and is examining ways "to increase transparency so people are not caught out." Gleave also said, after a tour of the departures construction site, that there are no plans to charge for dropping off or picking up passengers.
"I have been told categorically that there are no plans to introduce charging for drop off or for collecting and that there will always be a free option available at Jersey airport," she said.
Gleave described the modernization as necessary for a terminal that has served the island for nearly 30 years and said the end result will benefit travelers. "The airport is the last experience that our visitors have of the island and for anyone stuck at the airport for four hours, you need that to be a positive one," she added. She rejected the idea that the revamp erases local character, saying the modernization "needs to be celebrated."
Ports of Jersey, the government-owned company that runs both the airport and the island's harbors, said the complaints have been heard. In a statement, the operator said:
"We're very sorry that one of our customers found the car park charges sign at the entrance was not clear enough. We really appreciate their feedback. As we invest in the car park at Jersey Airport, it's important to us that customers are easily able to use the car parks and are clearly able to find any applicable charges. We will review the signage to ensure it meets customer expectations."
The statement, first reported by BBC Jersey, did not say whether premium-lot rates would change, and no timeline for the signage review was announced.
For American readers, a quick geography note: Jersey is in the Channel Islands between England and France — not in New York Harbor. It is a British Crown dependency roughly two-thirds the size of Washington, D.C., and a draw for American visitors interested in its World War II fortifications and coastal walks. The name connection runs deep: New Jersey was named for this same island in the 17th century.
The parking dispute will feel familiar to anyone who has navigated premium parking tiers at U.S. hubs such as JFK, LAX or O'Hare, where daily premium and valet rates routinely run into the tens of dollars. The difference is the penalty for choosing the wrong zone: roughly $48 for a 12-minute wrong turn is a price that would make even the costliest American airport lots look like bargains.
There's also a policy contrast worth noting. Some U.S. airports have moved ride-hail pickups to remote lots, added premium pickup zones, or experimented with paid curbside access in recent years — moves that generated complaints similar to those now aimed at Ports of Jersey. Gleave's confirmation that Jersey will keep drop-off free, and keep at least one free parking option, stands out in a travel environment where free airport options are increasingly scarce.
Transportation research and federal guidance, including the U.S. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, stress that drivers absorb sign information in a single glance and that overloaded signs increase the risk of mistakes. For dyslexic drivers, dense text-based signs are even harder to parse, which is why modern airport wayfinding increasingly relies on symbols, color-coded lanes and simple lane assignments rather than menu-style lists.
For anyone flying into Jersey (airport code JER), the practical takeaway is straightforward: the long-stay lot offers 45 minutes free, and the drop-off zone remains free, but the premium lot carries premium prices. Read the sign before you turn — especially after dark.
The bottom line for now: the new layout stays, the signage review has been promised, and the 45-minute free window remains the safe option for drivers who don't want an airport errand to turn into a $48 mistake. Islanders and visitors alike will be watching to see whether Ports of Jersey delivers on its commitment to clarity — before the next driver lands in the wrong lot at the wrong rate.
