At Piccadilly station you cannot drive your car up the approach road, you have to pick up from the side entrance where the taxi rank is and if you want to use the car park, you pay. The situation at the airport isn't much different. If you want to pick up/drop off, you can do so at the departures levels and at the station free of charge. If you want to use the car park, then you pay. End of story. As I said in my previous post, there are ways around this pick up charge and although not as convenient as they could be, it's not like the airport has closed off all avenues and you have no other choice.
For anyone that witnessed the 10 minutes free area in terminal 1 will know that on any given day it was a sham. Cars parked anywhere, people driving the wrong way down one way lanes just to get out quickly to avoid paying, vehicles were left unattended and there was absolutely no access for emergency vehicles to get near the terminal. As with many things in this country, a minority abused the system and as a result the airport have taken the privilege away. A shame for the genuine users but it's not the first organisation to make such a decision and it certainly won't be the last.