Heathrow Terminal 4 taxi | U Want Taxi

Terminal 4 is the one Heathrow terminal that isn't on the central island with Terminals 2 and 3 — it sits on the south side of the airport, closer to the cargo sheds than to the other passenger buildings, and is reached from the M25's Junction 14 via the Southern Perimeter Road rather than the tunnel road the other central terminals share.

It's mainly a SkyTeam terminal — Air France, KLM, Korean Air and a handful of others — and because it's physically separate from the rest of the airport, it's also linked in by its own rail loop, served by Heathrow Express and the Piccadilly line, for anyone connecting onward by train rather than being collected by road.

Being tucked away on the south side means Terminal 4 sees less passing traffic than Terminals 2, 3 and 5, so the forecourt is generally quieter, though it still charges for anything beyond a quick drop-off. We use the same approach as elsewhere — waiting at the long-stay area and bringing the car round once you're actually out through arrivals.

Because the approach road is different from the rest of Heathrow, a driver who normally does Terminal 5 runs and gets sent to Terminal 4 instead needs to know to come off at Junction 14 and follow the Southern Perimeter Road rather than the usual central-terminal spur — get it wrong and you can end up looping back round most of the airport perimeter before finding the right entrance.

Fares from our coverage area are the same regardless of terminal: £18 saloon or £28 executive from Slough or Burnham, £16/£25 from Windsor, £22/£32 from Maidenhead, £30/£42 from Marlow. The extra distance around to the south side doesn't change the price, only the route in.

A couple of airport hotels, including the Sofitel and the Renaissance, sit close to Terminal 4 and share some of the same access roads, which occasionally confuses a satnav trying to route a pickup — it will sometimes suggest a hotel service road rather than the passenger drop-off, so we confirm the exact arrivals or departures entrance rather than relying on a pin alone.

Because Terminal 4 is quieter and smaller than the central terminals, security queues here are usually shorter too, which is one reason we sometimes recommend a slightly later departure time for a Terminal 4 flight than we would for the same time slot at Terminal 3 or Terminal 5.

Terminal 4's arrivals hall sits close to the airport's cargo sheds, and lorry traffic serving those sheds uses some of the same approach roads as passenger cars, particularly overnight. It rarely causes a real delay, but a driver expecting a quiet run in the small hours can find a line of freight vehicles ahead of them on the Southern Perimeter Road that wouldn't be there at Terminals 2, 3 or 5.

The taxi rank and drop-off bays outside Terminal 4 are smaller than at the central terminals, reflecting the lower passenger numbers through the building, so on the rare occasion it does get busy — a delayed bank of SkyTeam arrivals all landing together, for instance — there's less spare capacity at the kerb than you'd find at Terminal 5.