Press Update
“On Saturday the plane was Eddie the Eagle of travel — so far behind as to be out of sight.”
In the air/train race staged by Heathrow campaign groups on Saturday the people who travelled by Eurostar were on their way home by the time the air travellers would have reached the Eiffel Tower. Delays had caused major delays for the plane. The story unfolded as follows:
11am The racers set off from Westminster as Big Ben struck 11 o’clock.
Just after midday the train travellers are settled comfortably in their seats and leave Waterloo on time.
2.00pm The plane travellers are seated in their plane Heathrow and then…….the plane sits on the tarmac for an hour because of heavy showers in Paris.
So, at the moment the train arrives at the Gare du Nord around 3pm, the plane is just taking off from Heathrow.
Just after 3.30pm (UK time) the train emerges from the metro near the Eiffel Tower to an enthusiastic welcome from the French campaigners and the French media.
Around 4.00pm the plane travellers disembark at Charles de Gaulle Airport and then…..because of an immigration alert at the airport cannot retrieve their luggage until 5.00pm, i.e. another hour’s wait
Meanwhile the train travellers, having had a civilised beer on the Champs Elysees, are making their way back to the Gare du Nord to catch the train home.
At 6.30pm, the train people are relaxed on Eurostar, speeding through the French countryside on their way home while the plane people are just arriving at the Gare du Nord, having abandoned any attempt to rendez-vous at the Eiffel Tower.
HACAN Chair John Stewart said, “This is the sort of result which a group like HACAN dreams about. But it actually happened. Our dream became a nightmare for the air passengers. The timetables suggested that the train travellers would be at the Eiffel Tower about half an hour ahead of the air travellers. Little did they realise they would be so far ahead that they would be on their way home before the plane travellers arrived. On Saturday the plane was Eddie the Eagle of travel — so far behind as to be out of sight.”
ENDS