It's normally possible to get a couple of aircraft holding at charlie without too much trouble. As you can imagine, it's quite a busy airport, and backtracking one at a time is not practical, so two or three at a time is common practice. I would not consider it dangerous, and it seems to work as long as everybody gives eachother due consideration.
At worst, it can involve manoeuvring with one wheel on the grass (boo-hoo!). Would you honestly say that what happened at the weekend was at all dangerous? The worst that could have happened at the beginning of the takeoff roll is that you could have lost a wingtip light, and I think you would be far more likely to lose some lights on the apron than at the 04 threashold.
As for a landing aircraft, if you had managed to hit somebody at that holding point, then you would have to have just ploughed through trees anyway! (Or made one mighty steep approach).
Pie
[This message has been edited by Pielander (edited 06 July 2001).]