Do those who think we in LHR ATC should be able to immediately switch to a contingency facility understand that to do so we would need to fully staff the back up facility 24/7 to enable us to do this?
As Timelapse says, we do have a back up VCR, as well as an evac plan. To be an effective contingency, by definition it needs to be some distance away from our main VCR to provide redundancy. That distance means that it does take a period of time for ATCOs and Assistants to get there and open things up.