Apparently the car parking issue isn't capacity driven, but commercially driven, (from the top) as the the Stands that are being converted to car-parking will be for the " VALET " service. I hear that £10 a day per car has been mentioned. Drop your car off at the Valet reception, hand your keys over and off you go.
Your car will be parked on a tip top surface!!!
I suppose the maths are quite simple and if there's a sudden increase in the number of stands required then they can fairly quickly be brought back to service again.
However if you were a passenger who had just completed an Ocean crossing and arrived at Man a tad early due to favourable winds en-route, you'd be pretty hacked off if you had to sit around on the ground for 40 or 50 mins awaiting a stand (which happens all too regularly at the moment with no stand closures!)? Yes I know it's sometimes the Airlines that request the a/c to be held as they want to Gate it on an air bridged stand, but hells teeth, no stands because they are car-parks!
However this is not a new idea, as MA regularly take stands out of service to park snow clearing vehicles on them, or Fuel bowsers (Stand 64 & 65).
Why don't we go one better and make Runway 2 into the Valet parking area or even turn into a racing circuit as it appears to be damn all use for 80% of the time.
So lets hear it for the joined-up thinking team of MA ------ (silence!!)
