LTNman
To all those who have been giving their six pennyworth about the horrendous conditions at Luton on Friday afternoon, I happened to be there at the time. The tunnel was cleared in about two hours of flood water by a couple of fire engines and help from the Airport Fire Brigade as well. There were cars practically submerged in the tunnel so it was not just getting rid of the water. Personally, I don’t think any planning would have been capable of handling that amount of water in such a short space of time. Of course the road network was in a mess, but I managed to extricate myself around 4 pm with not too much bother.
The airport continued to function through all of this, as far as I am aware only one aircraft diverted – an Easy to Stansted due to windshear on finals – and no flights were cancelled which cannot be said for the shambles at Heathrow!. Two business aicraft landed in the downpour and reported no problems. Apparently staff could get to and from work – they had to use the security gate near the fuel farm and were bussed from their to the terminal.
I am making no political comment at all just trying to put the facts to all as I saw them and lets think about all those poor sods in the Cotswolds etc. who have been flooded out of their homes etc. plus the hundreds who were stuck on the M5 for hours without any food or water on Friday night. Lets put everything into perspective so waiting for two hours for a tunnel to be re-opened could be classed as a minor irritation!