I was going to start a thread on the subject of Terminal 4 closure but since
this tjhread already exists, I hope I may be permitted to offer the following
opinion.

I have just read the TFL leaflet "Heathrow by Tue" which deals with the
closure, between January 2005 and September 2006. The most startling sentence
is "There are 33 stairs at Hatton Cross Station".

Those 8 words are enough to ensure that nobody with any luggage (and a fair
number of the rest of us, including the aged, disabled, those with children
etc.) is going to use the Mickey Mouse make-do-and mend "replacement" bus
service.

At a time when the Gatwick express link is under threat, is this nonsense
really the way to encourage people to use public transport to the airports?
Are, TFL, British Airways (the major user of Terminal 4) and BAA (in which I am
a shareholder) all hell-bent on destroying the market for Terminal 4
Underground services: those of us who choose other airports or other means of
travel are unlikely to go back to the Underground (with all of its ureliability
in any event: I was stuck on a Piccadilly Line train for almost half an hour
one day last week - I wasn't going to Heathrow, but judging by the luggage,
urgent looking at watches and general disquie, a fiar number of flights were
missed that morning!).

The irony is that all this disruption is being caused by the alleged lack of
capacity at Heathrow, hence the building of Terminal 5. Do the twits
responsible for this debacle really not give a fig for the massive
inconvenience being caused to millions of passengers whilst the closure
operates?

I have never used Hatton Cross but I am incredulous that there seem to be no
lifts or escalators there! In the overall scheme of things, would it have been
inordinately expensive to install lifts/escalators there even if just for this
temporary purpose?

The sentence "Porters will be available to assist with luggage if necessary" is
surely bad a sad joke!

Marc.