Virgin A340 runway excursion. Well done.
It would appear that last night LHR was made single runway due to a Virgin A340 taxying off at the threshold of 27R. This happened late evening (10 'ish)
Thought I'd pass on my thanks to the crew involved as it quadrupled all workload for those who already had 1 hour delays in BNN/LAM/BIG/OCK. Before all you all jump on me, let me state that many other crews had taxied at an appropriate speed whilst lining up and therefore managed to remain on the paved surface.
Secondly, let me also thank BAA who have categorically refused repeated requests by LHR airlines to set up a remote de-icing operation at LHR so that they can cope a little better with such extreme weather. Can I suggest they invest a little time and money and go for a jolly to OSL/ARN/HEL etc to see how things can work on days like yesterday.
Thirdly and on an unsarcastic note, to all those staff who stayed on those extra hours so that 'us up there' weren't left stranded, a big thankyou. Especially the one T1 BA dispatcher left at LHR, Matt, who had the un-enviable task of meeting 10 more aircraft at 0215 this morning. Also the ATCO who was providing ground/tower at midnight, dual frequency and quite likely operating a shift length that would make ones eyes water. Well played fella!