MEP in airport charge row

A ROW has broken out between the owner of Edinburgh Airport and Scotland's only Tory MEP over a controversial drop-off charge.

Struan Stevenson said the airport had "shocked Europe" with the introduction of the 1 charge which must be paid by anyone dropping off passengers outside the terminal building.

But BAA, the airport's owner, dismissed the idea the levy was unique, mocking the politician's suggestion that travellers in the Capital were "beleaguered."

The MEP said the EU's transport directorate was set to investigate the charge, adding that the EU's transport commissioner, Siim Kallas, had expressed surprise at the charge, saying no similar charge existed anywhere else in Europe.