Came through Stansted last night, walked down from the Ryanair satellite. When we came to the escalator that makes the quite considerable rise from the low level passageway up to the customs area there was a notice stating blandly "This escalator may be out of service due to operational reasons". Which indeed it was. And a number of elderly passengers were having quite a struggle getting up the several flights of stairs.
I am wondering just what are the "operational reasons" behind the fact that this escalator "may" be out of service.