AirportWatch | Heathrow fined £1.6m for anti-competitive car parking

Heathrow fined £1.6m for anti-competitive car parking

Date added: 20 September, 2018

Heathrow and hospitality group Arora have admitted hotel airport car parking charges broke competition law. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has fined Heathrow a £1.6m while Arora escaped a penalty after being granted immunity by the CMA for bringing the matter to its attention under a “leniency programme”. The breach relates to a 2005 lease between Heathrow and Arora, the operator of the Sofitel hotel at what is now Terminal 5. The Sofitel has a car park that is open to hotel and non-hotel guests. The lease contained a provision that prevented Arora from charging non-hotel guests less than the charges Heathrow levied elsewhere at the airport. The CMA said such a provision was anti-competitive. The CMA has also issued letters to other airports and hotel operators, warning against similar agreements. Heathrow got a 20% reduction on its fine, that would otherwise have been a £2 million, for having voluntarily entered into a settlement. There are at present mounting tensions between Heathrow and Arora, the largest landowner in and around the airport, as its boss, Surinder Arora, wants to be allowed to build the new runway etc.

Heathrow and hospitality group Arora have admitted hotel airport car parking charges broke competition law.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) handed Heathrow a £1.6m fine. Arora escaped a penalty after being granted immunity by the CMA for bringing the matter to its attention under a “leniency programme”.

The breach relates to a 2005 lease between Heathrow and Arora, the operator of the Sofitel hotel at what is now Terminal 5.

The Sofitel has a car park that is open to hotel and non-hotel guests. The lease contained a provision that prevented Arora from charging non-hotel guests less than the charges Heathrow levied elsewhere at the airport. The CMA said such a provision was anti-competitive.

The regulator said it has issued letters to other airports and hotel operators warning against similar lease agreements.

Heathrow received a 20pc discount to what would otherwise have been a £2m fine having voluntarily entered into a settlement.

A Heathrow spokesman said the lease “revolved around a historically negotiated provision which pre-dates our current management and shareholders”.

“We believe that the provision was never monitored or enforced and, as such, there would have been no impact on Heathrow’s customers or the Sofitel.”

An Arora spokesman said: “Having brought this matter forward to the CMA, and co-operated with them throughout, the Arora Group is pleased that this investigation is entering its final stages. The Arora Group takes compliance with all laws and regulations very seriously and respects the CMA and the process it followed.”

The adjudication came amid mounting tensions between Heathrow and Arora, the largest landowner in and around the airport.

Tycoon Surinder Arora believes he can deliver Heathrow’s expansion considerably cheaper, and claims Heathrow is determined not to relinquish control. Heathrow, however, says it “makes sense” to have only one party running the process.

Heathrow fined £1.6m for anti-competitive car parking

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