Britain has the most expensive airport parking in the world with huge peak-time charges.

Peak-time parking at Heathrow’s Terminal 4 is £12 for between one and two hours with a two hour stay costing £10 at Gatwick and Stansted, and £11 at Luton, reports the Mirror.

While short-term parking can be found at New York’s JFK airport for £5.50 and £6.60 at Paris’s Charles de Gaulle.

The only major international airport close to British prices is Sydney, where a stay of between one and two hours costs £11.

Glasgow and Edinburgh airports are also high with the price of a two-hour stay costing £9 and £8.90 respectively.

Heathrow Airport said it was trialling these peak tariffs to improve the journey for passengers travelling to Terminal 4 specifically at peak times.

A spokeswoman said: “In November last year, we increased the price of parking in Terminal 4 between the hours of 0600 – 0800 and 1830 – 2030.

“At this same time, we made the decision to make the long stay car park just a few meters across the road from Terminal 4 free for the first two hours with a bus connecting to the terminal every 10 minutes.

“The reason for this change is because Terminal 4 has been reaching over capacity during these hours with the volume of friends and family being brought to meet arriving and departing passengers – this is specific to Terminal 4 only.

“Without our intervention, the vehicle queue to the car park reaches back to the motorway, putting passengers at risk of missing their flight while impacting the safe flow of traffic.”

At many airports, including Athens and Berlin, the first 20 minutes of parking are free in order to allow the unhurried picking up and dropping off of passengers.