UK cities
45+
Direct coverage
West Sussex · M23 Junction 9, the dedicated Gatwick spur, roughly 28 miles south of central London and about one junction south of the M23/M25 interchange at Junction 8.
Car Accident Claims Gatwick | Non-Fault Support, RH6, RH10, RH11, RH1
24/7 recovery, secure storage, repairs and like-for-like replacement vehicle support for non-fault drivers in Gatwick (RH6, RH10, RH11, RH1), on the London to Brighton corridor. CCTV disclosure filed inside the 14-day retention window.
- West Sussex coverage
- Sussex Police (with Surrey Police covering the northern edge of the airport site) literate
- A23 / M23 corridor
- CCTV disclosure inside 14d
4
Gatwick postcodes
24/7
Dispatch
£0
Upfront
24/7
UK response
Recovery dispatch and live claim handlers, 365 days a year.
Response
<60m
First contact SLA
Cost
£0
Upfront to driver
Reviewed: Written & reviewed by: CityGrip Editorial Team (City Grip Ltd)County: West SussexPostcodes: RH6, RH10, RH11, RH1Nearest A&E: East Surrey Hospital (RH1 5RH)
On this page
Do you cover non-fault accident claims in Gatwick?
Yes - we coordinate non-fault car and van accident management across Gatwick (RH6, RH10, RH11, RH1) on the London to Brighton corridor, in West Sussex. Services include 24/7 recovery to a CCTV-monitored partner yard, secure storage, repair coordination and like-for-like replacement vehicle screening. We file CCTV disclosure with the relevant highway authority inside the typical 14 to 31-day footage retention window, and we coordinate with Sussex Police (with Surrey Police covering the northern edge of the airport site) for collision reporting under the Road Traffic Act 1988.
County
West Sussex
Postcodes
RH6, RH10, RH11, RH1
Clean air status
Gatwick sits well outside the Greater London boundary and is not covered by the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), so there is no ULEZ daily charge at the airport or on the roads immediately serving it. There is also no separate Clean Air Zone charging scheme operating in Crawley Borough or the surrounding West Sussex and Surrey area. Drivers should note only that a journey continuing north into central London along the A23 or the wider road network can enter the ULEZ, but that is a London matter and does not apply to Gatwick itself or to the M23 corridor around it.
Nearest A&E
East Surrey Hospital
Coverage detail
Postcode coverage in Gatwick
Gatwick Airport and its immediate approaches sit in the RH6 postcode district, which it shares with Horley just to the north. RH6 0 covers the airport campus, the terminals, the perimeter roads and the surrounding hotels and car parks. Move south into the built-up part of Crawley and you cross into RH10 and RH11, while the northern edge of the airport reaches towards RH1 around Redhill and Salfords in Surrey. When you note down a location after a collision here, the postcode alone will not always tell you which county or which police force is in charge, because the airport boundary runs close to the West Sussex and Surrey line. For CityGrip's purposes the practical rule is simple: record the nearest terminal, junction or named road as well as the postcode, so recovery and any later evidence request can be pointed at the correct authority without guesswork.
RH6RH10RH11RH1
Non-fault accident support in Gatwick
Gatwick is the busy road and air gateway that anchors the northern end of West Sussex on the London to Brighton corridor. It sits in the Crawley Borough Council area, a short run south of the point where the M23 meets the M25, and it is defined almost entirely by movement: cars, vans, private-hire vehicles, shuttle buses and delivery traffic circulating around the terminals, the perimeter roads and the M23 spur at Junction 9. For non-fault drivers, that constant churn is the single most important fact about the place. A large share of the vehicles on these roads are unfamiliar with the layout, tired at the end of a journey or in a hurry to make a flight or a pick-up slot, and that mix produces a steady stream of low-speed knocks, lane-change clips and drop-off collisions that are rarely the fault of the local driver going about their day.
The corridor position matters because it shapes both the traffic and the paperwork. Gatwick is served directly by the M23 at Junction 9, the dedicated airport spur, with the A23 shadowing the motorway and carrying local traffic between Horley, the airport and Crawley. To the north, Junction 8 links the M23 to the M25, so a great deal of orbital and cross-country traffic funnels down towards the airport here. This is a National Highways environment on the motorway and the trunk A23, but the moment you leave the strategic network for the borough roads around Horley and Crawley you are on routes managed by West Sussex County Council, with the northern fringe of the airport reaching towards Surrey. Knowing which body holds the CCTV and the road records for a given spot is the difference between a clean evidence request and a wasted week.
The town centre of interest for most drivers is really the airport campus and the ring of hotels, car parks and access roads around it, together with Horley immediately to the north and the northern edge of Crawley to the south. Gatwick has an exceptionally high private-hire and PHV presence, with drivers working Uber, Bolt, Addison Lee and local operators alongside a huge volume of private drop-offs and pick-ups. That density of activity, combined with heavy signage, frequent lane changes and stop-start queuing at the terminals, is what shapes non-fault claims here. When a private-hire car or a family vehicle is hit while queuing, dropping off or manoeuvring on the perimeter, the driver is usually not at fault but is left off the road, out of pocket and facing a third-party insurer that is in no rush to help. That is exactly the gap CityGrip is built to close.
Traffic and road conditions in Gatwick
The road environment at Gatwick is dominated by the M23 Junction 9 interchange and the airport access roads that feed off it. Junction 9 is the main exit for the airport and one of the busiest points on the whole motorway, with Airport Way and the terminal approach roads carrying dense, weaving traffic towards the North and South Terminals. The A23 runs alongside the M23 and carries local movement between Horley, the airport perimeter and Crawley, so drivers frequently switch between a fast strategic road and a congested local one within a mile or two. Recurring collision patterns follow directly from this: rear-end shunts in the slow-moving queues on the terminal approaches, side-swipes where lanes merge or divide near the junction, and low-speed impacts in the pick-up and drop-off zones where vehicles stop, pull out and reposition constantly. Many of these involve a stationary or slow non-fault vehicle being struck from behind or clipped by a driver focused on signage rather than the car in front.
Away from the immediate terminal area, the pressure points spread out along the corridor. The M23/M25 interchange at Junction 8 to the north gathers orbital traffic and funnels it down towards the airport, so tailbacks and sudden braking are common on the southbound approach. Junctions 9A and 10 handle onward movement towards Crawley and the A23, and the roundabouts and slip roads around Horley and the airport perimeter see a lot of unfamiliar drivers hesitating or changing course at the last moment. The heavy private-hire and shuttle-bus presence adds vehicles that stop frequently and pull in and out of kerbside space, while the sheer number of car parks and hotels generates constant turning movements. For a local car or van driver, the greatest exposure is simply being in the wrong place when a distracted or lost driver misjudges a queue, a merge or a drop-off manoeuvre.
GATWICK
03
Section 3 of the walkthrough.
How we handle Gatwick accident claims
When CityGrip handles a non-fault claim at Gatwick, the first job is to match the evidence to the right authority. Collisions on the M23, the M25 or the trunk section of the A23 fall under National Highways, which operates the motorway and strategic-road cameras, while incidents on the borough roads around Horley, the airport perimeter and Crawley are matters for West Sussex County Council, and the northern fringe of the airport can reach into Surrey. Getting a CCTV or disclosure request to the correct body quickly is critical because footage is not kept indefinitely; retention windows are typically in the region of 14 to 31 days depending on the operator and the camera, so we move to identify and request the relevant coverage without delay. For collisions that need to be logged with the police, the area is served by Sussex Police, with Surrey Police covering the northern edge of the airport site, and non-injury incidents are reported through the force's online road traffic collision tool, which issues a reference number you should keep for your records and your insurer.
The second job is getting the driver back on the road. Gatwick's road network is fast-moving and heavily used, so a damaged or unroadworthy vehicle cannot be left where it is; CityGrip arranges prompt recovery from the motorway, the airport approaches or the local roads and moves the vehicle into secure storage while the claim is assessed. Where the driver is not at fault, we can provide a like-for-like replacement car or van so a private-hire driver can keep earning or a family can keep moving, and we coordinate engineer inspection, repair and correspondence with the third-party insurer so the claimant is not left arguing the case alone. Personal injury is never handled in-house: if someone has been hurt, that side of things is referred to authorised legal partners only with the customer's separate written consent, kept entirely distinct from the accident-management work of recovery, storage, replacement vehicle and repair.
Major roads and known hazards in Gatwick
The road authority for each route is identified so the right disclosure request (county council, Transport for the region, or National Highways for the M23 / M25 and trunk A23) can be filed inside the typical 14 to 31-day CCTV retention window.
| Reference | Road / corridor | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| M23 | M23 motorway (Junction 9, Gatwick spur) | The dedicated airport junction and one of the busiest points on the M23; dense weaving and queuing traffic on Airport Way and the terminal approaches make rear-end and merge collisions common. Operated by National Highways, which holds the strategic-road CCTV. |
| A23 | A23 London to Brighton road | Shadows the M23 and carries local traffic between Horley, the airport perimeter and Crawley. The trunk section south of the M23 is National Highways; the stretches through built-up Horley are managed locally, so evidence requests can fall to different authorities along its length. |
| M23 J8 | M23 / M25 interchange (Junction 8) | Where the M23 meets the M25 to the north, gathering orbital traffic and funnelling it south towards the airport; sudden braking and tailbacks on the southbound approach are a recurring pattern. |
| M23 J9A | Junction 9A and the airport access roads | Handles onward movement between the airport, the A23 and Crawley; frequent lane changes and last-minute manoeuvres by unfamiliar drivers around the perimeter roundabouts and slip roads. |
| A2011 | Crawley Avenue (A2011) and northern Crawley approaches | Carries local traffic between the A23, the town and the airport fringe; a West Sussex County Council road where junction and roundabout collisions are common at peak times. |
Known incident hotspots
- The M23 Junction 9 terminal approaches, where stop-start queuing and drivers watching signage rather than the vehicle in front produce frequent low-speed rear-end shunts.
- The North and South Terminal drop-off and pick-up zones, where vehicles stop, pull out and reposition constantly and side-on and reversing knocks are common.
- The M23/M25 interchange at Junction 8, where merging orbital traffic and sudden tailbacks on the southbound run towards the airport catch drivers out.
- The airport perimeter roundabouts and slip roads, where unfamiliar and tired drivers hesitate, change lanes late or take the wrong exit.
- The all-lane-running sections of the M23 around Junction 9, where variable speed limits and the absence of a permanent hard shoulder raise the stakes of any breakdown or collision.
- The A23 transitions through Horley, where the road shifts between fast open stretches and lower-speed built-up limits, and speed misjudgement leads to junction and rear-end collisions.
Clean air and emissions
Gatwick sits well outside the Greater London boundary and is not covered by the London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), so there is no ULEZ daily charge at the airport or on the roads immediately serving it. There is also no separate Clean Air Zone charging scheme operating in Crawley Borough or the surrounding West Sussex and Surrey area. Drivers should note only that a journey continuing north into central London along the A23 or the wider road network can enter the ULEZ, but that is a London matter and does not apply to Gatwick itself or to the M23 corridor around it. Any replacement vehicle we arrange for you in Gatwick is matched to your needs and to any zone you regularly drive through, so you can keep working and travelling without penalty.
Speed limits
Speed limits change sharply across the Gatwick area. The M23 and M25 are national-speed-limit motorways at 70 mph for cars and vans, though variable and reduced limits are shown on the overhead gantries around Junction 9 and through the all-lane-running sections when traffic or conditions require. The trunk A23 alongside the motorway runs at national limits on its open stretches, dropping to lower posted limits as it passes through built-up parts of Horley and towards Crawley. The airport access roads, terminal approaches and perimeter roads are subject to much lower limits, commonly 40 mph or 30 mph, with 20 mph zones and heavy pedestrian activity around the drop-off and pick-up areas. Always follow the posted signs, because the reduced and variable limits near the junction are enforced.
Evidence and disclosure timeline in Gatwick
CCTV, signal data and bus footage from a Gatwick collision are subject to retention windows that typically run between 14 and 31 days. After that the footage is overwritten and unavailable. The first 72 hours are disproportionately important.
- 0hMake the scene safe, exchange details, photograph the road layout, call 999 if anyone is injured. The Road Traffic Act 1988 duty to give details applies at the scene.
- 1hOpen the claim with us. We dispatch recovery to Gatwick and start drafting the disclosure requests to the correct highway authority.
- 24hIf reportable, file with Sussex Police (with Surrey Police covering the northern edge of the airport site) through their online collision reporting service. Quote the reference in all insurer correspondence.
- 72hCCTV disclosure request lodged with the relevant highway authority (A split applies. National Highways is responsible for the M23, the M25 to the north and the trunk section of the A23 south of the M23, while West Sussex County Council is the local highway authority for the borough roads around Horley, Gatwick and Crawley. Because the airport site straddles the county line, some approaches on the northern edge fall to Surrey County Council.) and, where relevant, National Highways for the M23, M25 or trunk A23.
- 14-31dStandard CCTV retention window. After this, footage is routinely overwritten unless preserved on an open disclosure request. We track the retention window for every claim from intake.
Related accident management services in Gatwick
Accident recovery in Gatwick →
24/7 dispatch to a CCTV-monitored partner yard.
Vehicle storage after a Gatwick accident →Daily-logged secure storage with photographic record.
Like-for-like replacement vehicle (credit hire) →Car or van replacement subject to eligibility.
Repair management for Gatwick drivers →Approved repairer referral and PAS 125 / BSI compliant scope.
Non-fault accident claims overview →End-to-end coordination for non-fault drivers.
Uninsured driver / hit-and-run support →Routing through the Motor Insurers' Bureau.
Frequently asked questions
- Which police force covers Gatwick, and how do I report a non-injury collision?
- Gatwick is primarily covered by Sussex Police, with Surrey Police covering the northern edge of the airport site where it reaches into Surrey. If nobody was injured and details were exchanged, you do not always need to call the police, but you can log the incident using the relevant force's online road traffic collision reporting tool. It issues a reference number, which you should keep for your records and pass to your insurer. If anyone was hurt, or there is an allegation of dangerous driving, the collision should be reported and 999 used in an emergency.
- Where is the nearest A&E to Gatwick with a full 24-hour emergency department?
- The nearest hospital with a full 24-hour blue-light Accident and Emergency department is East Surrey Hospital on Canada Avenue, Redhill, RH1 5RH, run by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust. It is the main acute hospital serving the Gatwick, Horley and Crawley area. For anything serious or life-threatening call 999; the emergency department is for serious injuries and life-threatening conditions, not minor complaints.
- Do I have to pay a ULEZ or Clean Air Zone charge to drive to Gatwick?
- No. Gatwick is outside the Greater London boundary and is not in the London Ultra Low Emission Zone, so there is no ULEZ daily charge at the airport or on the M23 and A23 roads immediately serving it. There is no separate Clean Air Zone charging scheme in Crawley Borough or the surrounding area. The only thing to watch is that a journey continuing north into central London can enter the ULEZ, but that does not affect Gatwick itself.
- My car was hit at Gatwick and it was not my fault. What can CityGrip do?
- As an accident management company, CityGrip can recover your vehicle from the motorway, the airport approaches or the local roads, move it into secure storage, and provide a like-for-like replacement car or van so you can keep driving or keep earning. We coordinate the engineer inspection, the repair and the correspondence with the third-party insurer so you are not left arguing the claim alone. We do not handle personal injury ourselves; if you have been hurt, that is referred to authorised legal partners only with your separate written consent.
Nearby corridor towns we also cover
Important notice
Liability for any road traffic collision remains subject to the at-fault driver's insurer's assessment and the available evidence. Replacement vehicle, credit hire, recovery, storage and repair support are subject to eligibility, the evidential record and reasonable need. We do not provide legal advice. Personal injury enquiries are referred only with your separate written consent to authorised legal or regulated partners. Information on this page about postcode coverage, road authority, clean-air zone applicability and hospital trusts is provided as general guidance and does not constitute legal, regulatory or insurance advice.
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Calls may be recorded for quality and compliance. We do not provide legal advice. Personal injury enquiries are referred only with your consent to authorised partners.
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