Campaigners to stage race as part of European Day of Action on Aviation
Saturday 16th June, 2007, 10.30am, College Green (opposite House of Lords): Eye-Catching sending off ceremony (1)
Campaigners from Heathrow protest groups HACAN and NOTRAG will mark the second European Day of Action on Aviation (2) on Saturday 16th June with a race to discover whether it is quicker to go by train or by plane from Big Ben to the Eiffel Tower. Campaigners from Charles de Gaulle Airport will race in the opposite direction. The UK campaigners will set off from Westminster when Big Ben strikes 11 o’clock. Two people will travel on Eurostar and two by plane from Heathrow.
The race is just one of many activities taking place across Europe. The theme for this year’s Day of Action is short-distance flights (3).
HACAN Chair John Stewart said, “This race will highlight the fact that it is quicker to get from Central London to Central Paris by train (4). And it need not be more expensive (5). Rather than go for yet further expansion at Heathrow, the focus of Government policy should be to phase out the massive tax breaks enjoyed by planes to encourage more people to take the train for short-distance journeys.”
Geraldine Nicholson, the Chair of NOTRAG (No Third Runway Action Group), said, “The community I represent will be destroyed if a 3rd runway goes ahead. The way forward should be to deal with all the short-distance flights clogging up Heathrow’s runways.”
ENDS
Notes for Editors:
(1). The sending off ceremony should provide eye-catching pictures. About a dozen people dressed in colourful t-shirts and waving French and English flags will send off the ‘racers’ on the stroke of 11am. Before that the French ‘racers’ (who will have arrived) will be welcomed in a very English way — with a cup of English tea and some cake!
Photos and interview opportunities from 10.30am. Facilities can also be made available at Waterloo International and on Eurostar for photos and interviews (let us know in advance).
(2). The first Day of Action was held last summer when over 20 groups across Europe staged activities.
(3). See attachment
(4). Time Comparison. The “racers” have been booked on the earliest plane and train they can get with an 11am start from Big Ben. Leaving Big Ben at 11.00am, the Heathrow people would arrive in time for noon, i.e. the required two hour check-in time, before the 14.05 flight. And the Eurostar people would be at Waterloo for 11.20, in time for a 30 minute check-in for the 12.09 train. The Eurostar people arrive at Paris at 15.59 and the plane people arrive at Charles de Gaulle at 16.20. Both groups would then make their way to the Eiffel Tower.
(5). Cost Comparison. The return air fare was £74.80 and for the train £74.00 (returning the same day) and £109.00 (returning the next day).
(6). Some useful background facts:
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There are 60 flights on a typical day between Heathrow and Paris, making Paris Heathrow’s top destination.
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More than a fifth of flights using Heathrow (100,000 out of 473,000) are to 12 destinations where there is already a viable rail alternative — see HACAN website for details.
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45% of all flights within Europe are 500kms or less, according to Euro Control (which looks after European airspace) — that is about the distance from London to the Scottish border.
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A trip on Eurostar to Paris is about 10 times less polluting that one by air.