Heathrow: Britain's Busiest Airport - S1 E1 | Our Stories

good afternoon just wait for an airbus 319 company to come after you and then put pressure on the banks to approve south london,

heathrow

, the largest and

busiest

airport

in europe, transporting more than 73 million passengers each year, just your chances, okay, how many passengers six, this is so big. This is so complex it's Gatwick on steroids with a flight taking off or landing every 45 seconds. Heathrow is operating at full capacity and there is no margin for error. You know, if Heathrow sneezes at the rest of Europe and the world catches a coal, we could have blown something up.

The thing is, what you're saying, even the smallest problem can cause chaos. 915 and 919 have been cancelled, nothing is landing, nothing is taking off and it is costing the billion pound business a fortune in fines and lost income. The series goes behind the scenes, this is the part that no one sees to follow the hidden army of personnel working against the clock to get thousands of planes out on time, it makes you hurry, just look at its guided tail, wow, look at you the size of a La Small town of Heathrow has its own police force. Excuse me, sir, come with me.

Please, paramedics and religious leaders, from the cleaners and baggage handlers to the air traffic controllers and the CEO. Everyone has a vital role to play in keeping Britain's most famous

airport

running. hands of god really american 135 hold position contact earth one two one decimal seven you know when you get to the beginning of the day that your whole day will be full from six in the morning until eleven o'clock at night air traffic controller paul hopper is starting your turn talking about two eight seven months in the tower and one in eight decimal five okay, happy greetings tom all yours initially has been 1970 focus you are number two now the Windsor oh four zero one one knot a plane will land every minute and a half until your rest scene four three or eight leave the first contact ground right on one two one don't want nine controllers can only work for 90 minutes before they are required to rest half an hour it is a very challenging and demanding job in an hour of very busy arrival we will probably land around 45 planes in that hour planes flying from 84 countries depend on paul and his team to keep Heathrow's two runways open.

Heathrow sneezes the rest of Europe and the world catches a cold. You know, we lose a clue here. This could have a knock-on effect on Europe and the rest of the world, because the planes are already in the sky when they arrive at Heathrow, they can't just turn around and go back to where they came from virgin 4-5 whiskey contact london 134 decimal five Not only is it up to the controllers to make sure the incoming planes land on time, we are here almost in an ivory tower controlling all the air traffic but also the airside security team are our eyes and ears and will get the guys out as quickly as possible. possible, they will clear the runways and then give them back to us to use again cut the brakes are outside the automatic gate and check Glenn is one of the airside security team 70 officers it's 8 a.m. m. and he just started his day shift patrolling the airfield, everything is free of fog, foreign object debris, basically garbage, food and airplanes don't go together, you just have to get a little beam like that sucked into an engine intake and it's not good ah there we are, I'm very sure what's right, what we have, how the hell does a pair of men's underwear come out on a taxiway that isn't my size, Glenn's colleagues, Ed Stew, have a couple more critical task verify that the runways are free of debris we are about to begin our runway inspection of two seven just waiting for the order from air traffic control or air traffic control to enter the arrivals runway on traffic control will create a gap for us approximately 12 miles and while we are on the runway there will be planes landing if you can still see ahead there is a small light in the distance that is a plane coming towards us four minutes it is important to drive at a good constant speed so you can take it all in, so if something happens and there's an accident, then they'll look at our inspection to see if we're cannibals, obviously if we go out and find the surface starting to break up on the track, that might even mean a closure of the track. track, the guys on the ground have to make that decision: do we close the track and cause a lot of problems or can they fix it on the spot?

Is it just something that needs to be picked up and started? back of the truck and keep driving or is it something a little more serious than the runway inspection in progress surface wind 330 degrees nine knots almost seems like something up here and I just have to set the line three minutes until the next plane hits the runway, smaller debris can be a hazard with a plane landing at 150 miles per hour, plastic bags obviously can be ingested by engines and they melt and can basically ruin a plane's engine, anything so can be ingested. It causes millions of pounds of damage to a plane, so when people are working, picking up a bag and throwing it in the bin could save millions of pounds until the runway is declared safe.

No plane can land. Every minute a plane is delayed costs everyone money. you want your day to go smoothly you find nothing on the runway there is a feeling of relief you are very happy about it so we have won four golf could continue microwave runway two seven on the left every plane that lands carries hundreds of

stories

Lewis, of 22 years old, drove from Devon last night to wait for an American girl he never even met. There she is with her dog and she pings the dog. I found her on a dating site and obviously you don't expect someone on a dating site from over 3000 miles away to be of romantic interest, you know, you get the classic, oh, she's a guy, he's like no, she is definitely not a man, the rose is a little withered, it feels like she is very nervously waiting for the international arrivals to arrive.

She came here and then she was circling above us and then they ran out of fuel, so they had They had to be diverted to Gatwick, so I've been waiting here ever since, hopefully it will come back to life when she arrives. He has been in arrivals for almost three. hours and I can't see his flight on the board. I've already gone to the bathroom about four times just because of nerves, so he landed. He landed. My throat went dry and my heart rate increased and I said terminal five. when I looked up this morning waiting about three hours, three hours at least, I landed, I landed 11 49. terminal three, you better run, you have to go for 30 minutes, but she landed about two, I don't know well, thank you Behind you, where was I?

However, I also have paper parking and whatever else I'm having in a day. Heathrow's five terminals cover an area the size of 1,700 football fields. The task of making sure the entire airport runs smoothly falls to one person, the airport shift manager, nowadays, his former movie manager. who is on duty if something went wrong there about 350 people are not watching the movie they really want to see today if something goes wrong here we are affecting many people's days it is a mini city it has a quarter of a million There are people here every day, I feel like the sheriff of the town, if you want, hey, dial, hey, well, well, how's it going?

We are just reaching the afternoon peak. It's starting to get busy. Now there are critical points at the moment. Immigration T4 probably seems to be the

busiest

area. apoc is Heathrow operations centre, it's the heart of what we do, it's mission control, I've been communicating with Bull Reforce on any of the arrivals, apart from 45 minutes, it seems busy there so I'll go out and i'll give you some support ok thanks jason if there's anything i need to attend i'll be there on a hobby what time the fight flight arrived ah but they were supposed to arrive today at 1205 bless it's a wait approximately 20 minutes and half an hour.

About immigration, how old are the children? It's rush hour in terminal three and a piece of news is helping an anxious family waiting for two children traveling alone from America. We don't know what to do. Not my brother in America, you can't have yourself. I have a number, no, Lauren, can you call Deirdre? The young relatives have gotten lost somewhere between the plane and the arrivals hall, Mom, why are you crying? they are too mature for the rage man oscar one oscar one said yes and if you can help me I'm just with a group of passengers who are waiting to meet a couple of unaccompanied miners and they just got a text saying no one was there there to welcome us.

The cabin crew has our passports and we don't know what to do. Obviously the guys up front are a little worried, copy, I'll call Sony back and let him know that they're definitely still at the door because he's heading that way. Well, thanks, regards, so I can imagine how scary that is. It would be for them to be lost in America, what they will find is that an airline won't leave them stranded, but again they probably expect us to be there where they are, they don't realize we can't, yeah, yeah. Yes, by chance, it's a Delta flight.

Yes, funnily enough, I have Delta's shift manager on the phone right now. Fix them. If you go, they will be there now. You will see. Just don't go. Through the doors, as old as I am, I could still do something with a young man. She says this to all the men. Yes, she was thinking that he was special, a good man. She's definitely here somewhere after waiting three hours in the wrong terminal. Lewis is I'm still trying to find the transatlantic quote from him on the Internet. I think our trips to the London Eye seem a little longer now that it's 12:30 and we have to be at the eye by two, so wow, later we'll see the Phantom of Tomorrow at the Opera we have the Tower of London booked and then we'll head to Paris for two days, hopefully, hopefully this will be it and then we'll come back here and I'll take her around my hometown in Devon and then I'll go to the doctor's exhibition in Cardiff on Wednesday before leaving again on Thursday.

I'm pretty sure she could be the one. Oh, I'm finally here and I fought with you and my rose is withered. I'm so sorry, it's okay, I know it's a long road, I can't believe it, it's been like this, I know, I know, I know it's crazy, I just don't even know what to say, no, I don't know anymore. I planned for a long time for this moment and now I am speechless. I was so nervous when we were approaching Heathrow hanging around for a while and now it's happening and I'm so happy and I can't wait to start this wonderful thing. adventure it is nine in the morning on Wednesday five thousand five hundred passengers will land at Heathrow during the next hour and it is up to the baggage handlers to deliver their suitcases to them as quickly as possible we go to stop three two six for We enter and try to get there before for the plane to arrive.

That's the general idea. Well, you always have to watch where you're going because planes go straight away all the time. There is only one winner. They are a little bigger. that we, yes, that's true, Steve works for Donata, one of the handling agents competing for the airline business at Heathrow. I have to please the customer. He pleases the customer. You keep the contract. Everyone is happy. They all keep their jobs as a supervisor. Steve is responsible for downloading the. plane within a strict time limit from the moment we open the doors of the plane, only 12 to 15 minutes have passed, that is the deadline to bring your first bags to the baggage hall where passengers wait for their bags, you download them. and then the catering trucks come, the dry cleaning comes, every man and his dog comes, and then you load it again, the butt stops with me, unfortunately, it's highly pressurized, first class, 35 to 50 bags at each turn, depending, generally, fill them out.

It depends on how many passengers on the plane the containers, also called unit load devices or ULDs, are moved with the help of electric rollers. this is what ejects the ulds from the plane if the ball just stops so everything stays in place without stops then all the cargo and all the ulds would move anything that cargo to containers is transported separately in the back of the plane in the hold five money gold human remains wild animals anything could be in the hole five the strangest thing I found in the old fire was an American bullfrog about that big it was on its side it was frozen but everything is safe now we just call the basis for telling them that the download is complete.

It is about carrying the suitcases to the baggage room for the customer, so that the minimum weight you already know what you are likely to want your suitcases off the plane, this is how they do the job, the race to carry the suitcases to the passengers continues in the terminal five minutes away pulling a lot of suitcases, there are a lot of suitcases, especially when you arriveabout ten coming at the same time, that's the gym worker, alex, he's one of the four baggage handlers carrying the flight load of 300 bags, as long as it doesn't have an orange sticker, it's not too bad, any Anything with an orange sticker comes with Porsche.

Many of Heathrow's systems have been automated, but in Terminal 3 there is still only one way to carry a suitcase that arrives at a conveyor belt. Another thing you realize is that most of the things done at this airport are manual. Do it as quickly as possible. Waiting for them, they can pick them up beyond their merry way, hopefully, God willing, it's not just the luggage that's being unloaded today if you've got berries up there, yeah, there's a lot of stuff that's been buried in me, okay? Perfect, let me know when and I will come pick them up, thank you, the animal health officer, Michelle, needs to check the ferrets' documentation before they leave the airport.

They are under great pressure from the airline and the dispatchers above to get those bags out and get in. In some situations, customers cannot physically reach the animals because the animals have been placed at the other end first and the bags are in front, but sometimes you will literally see dogs sitting right in front of the door and lifting the bags and unloading them first for someone to prioritize a bag over a live animal is one of the most frustrating day to day things I come across and I very often have very heated arguments with some of the loaders. about this, oh look at them, michelle had no problem with the carriers today, the ferrets were rushed out, they are so cute, hi guys, she's taking them to

heathrow

animal reception centre, affectionately known as the ark, wow , he's a big boy, he's too big.

Can we keep that lid down there because I don't want to wake you up, to be honest the ark processes almost as many animals as the airport processes humans last year the staff handled 16,000 pets, hundreds of thousands of reptiles and 25 million of fish each? The animal flown to Britain must comply with strict import laws and our staff are responsible for checking each creature as it arrives. The first thing we will do is verify the identity of the animal, while in our passports we have a photo, but for this guy here. We are verifying his identity from the master chip that is implanted under his skin so that we can verify all the veterinary paperwork for this particular dog, come on, pup, do you mind?

Come on, if the pet's microchip or documents aren't in order, they could end up in quarantine Even when you're having a bad day, just seeing an animal that's happy to see you makes everything so much better, if you ask enough People here would rather work with animals any day than work with a bunch of people, Twenty-year-old Shannon is one of Arc's new recruits When I was little I wanted to be a veterinarian, I always wanted to work with animals, but I never knew I'd be in the airport, oh I could. Don't leave someone behind like that no, no, you love that, though don't you?

You are doing the paperwork dealing with the owners, if the paperwork is not in order it can be difficult because you want to return their animals as much as they want them back, but we have to follow the rules and regulations, so if they have any problems with the documentation, so we have to comply with that and from time to time there are owners who cry and get angry and will be angry but we have to do our job at the end of the day uh laura, I'm deborah jones um, I need you to call the reception center immediately animals here in the UK in London.

I am very, very upset about this paperwork. It wasn't done correctly Debra He is moving from Los Angeles to the UK where his mother Angela lives. I've been sitting here for five hours waiting for Bob and Sophie to come out of quarantine. She flew with her two cats this morning. There is one right in the front and then one right in the back they seem a little scared they seem a little nervous you have the number, it has already been given to you by a young woman who is handling our situation here and I need you to call them back immediately or call their number batch of vaccine for Bob's rabies vaccine faxed to that number in the next five minutes, okay, five minutes, bye, if they don't, if they don't, worst case scenario, which honestly, I do not think that it's necessary.

What we are worried about is that they will have to go into quarantine, but we have 48 hours before that, just no, just Bob, the one who waits for inflation, yes, and how long the quarantine will last. The quarantine will be 21 days, but we don't even need to think. about that because it's just an urgent request form, it happens frequently on a daily basis with the United States, um, so it's these forms of being sent constantly, so honestly, there's nothing to worry about, we just need the vet, it's not your fault, kind, fully understand that we want your Cats also respond to you as soon as we can, we really do and we can't even see them.

I just want to make sure that they're hydrated because uh um, yeah, I can't, I know that they're okay, you know. Yes, now if you prefer to have a vet check you, I can ask them if you want me to do it, it's completely up to you and you haven't seen them go potty or anything like that, but they haven't used the literature yet. No, okay, good afternoon. I park the fire police or ambulance at the Heathrow control centre. At that moment a call is coming in to the airport's internal emergency line. Okay, if you're on the line, I'll put you through to the police here at Heathrow and you can explain to them what happened.

Well, we have around 200,000 passengers every day and it is important that we can get help to them as quickly as possible. We can receive between 30 and 40 ambulance calls per day. The airport pays London Ambulance Service to have paramedics on site within the airport. terminals the quickest way to get to patients is by bicycle we are in fact an emergency ambulance we have everything an ambulance has I have a gentleman with me and he is conscious and breathing Claire has been called to help a passenger who has just arrived on a plane after injuring his back jumping off a cliff in Mexico, so it's a problem.

The gentlemen were injured while diving. Okay, he's back in Cancun and I'll let you handle the rest. Well, I jumped into a sinkhole and destroyed my L1 vertebrate. So that was it. I had surgery there 10 days ago to put metal pins in my spine and have now returned to England for physiotherapy. I need to go to one of the hospitals, preferably West Middlesex. Yes, they can do a check and see if you need it. transportation, right? But does it have to be an emergency ambulance? I don't want to clarify that for you. I would need someone else to pick me up.

Okay, obviously, okay, okay, I'll be gone in a minute. you actually put screws in your back, that makes them happy bye charlie romeo one eight the patient's parents are not strong enough to lift him into their car and he has no other way to get home this patient basically needs transportation to a hospital, has had a diving accident, so the only way to get to the hospital is by ambulance. It's okay, I don't have anything available right now, as soon as I can, I'll thank you. I went in feet first, straight and Then when I got close to the water I leaned over and I think my butt just took all the force when it came in, oh right, so I talked to my control, they don't have an emergency ambulance to send in this moment.

Maybe we can contact someone else, like another paramedic, and between the two of us we can get you into your parents' car or do you want to wait and I can keep an ambulance running. Yes, let's get in the car. Are you sure, yes, okay? Hi Rob, yeah ok I'm going to have an army yeah because I don't want to hurt you at all get them out of the way they're just the side effects okay can you put that other one on the London ambulance service? I would have sent an ambulance if that was the only way I could get home due to my duty of care but I may have had to wait a bit, that would be a low category, yeah yeah, not a big deal, it happened a couple of weeks ago or whenever and yes, yes, right here and now, we finally got there, didn't we?

We couldn't have done it without you, we literally just received it by email, thank you, bye, at the animal reception center, the cat paperwork. Bob and Sophie arrived after a seven-hour wait. Their owner, Deborah, was finally able to take them home. Very sorry. Let's be careful when traveling in style. It is not like this? We have six boxes of luggage in the back and this is what we hire. Where was it that we didn't know it was going to be this big? Thank you so much. Okay, nice flabby look. Heathrow is Britain's largest and most important airport to protect.

The Metropolitan Police is a 400-officer site-based commando unit. It is perfect. place to check the databases of all the law enforcement agencies and see if anyone is wanted and sometimes I can know that 12 hours ago a man that I need to arrest got on a plane in Singapore and they are landing and I have like seven eight nine hours to prepare to meet them at the end of a jetty and arrest them five hours into their shift, officers Neil and Mark have received a tip about a suspect on an incoming flight from Canada, quite a serious crime, they are looking for him for fraud, you might think. he got his way and went to Canada, we have the intelligence to see that he is on board, so we will know where he is, we will know what time it is, so we will go to the plane and meet him if we find him in the immigration survey, there is a small chance we will miss him and we would not want to lose this suspect to this crime.

Can you obviously let the team know that's everyone? No one to move, please, thank you. Let's go as our colleague will and I will follow. Excuse me sir. Can I ask him his name? Please is he gone? I could take a look. Please, I will ask you to jump down and come with me. all your luggage please okay, which happened on April 2nd this year in Bedfordshire, so you don't have to say anything. You may have a defense if you didn't mention a question, something you'll let lie in court, anything you do. say you can be given evidence, introduce yourself for me please, if we still consider us dangerous or unsafe, they will not be walked through a public area, we have other means of getting them ashore and we land them officially, everything is under control , the suspect will do it.

To be taken to a local police station for further questioning, Animal Health Officer Vicky also needs to intercept a passenger getting off a plane today departing for a United flight who is carrying an emotional support animal, um, to the dogs, um, that ride in the cabin below us. legislation pets do not have to fly in the hold as long as the passenger has a doctor's note stating that they need the pet with them for emotional support. I heard that someone once went out with a pygmy hedgehog and I would like to know what support that gave them in the cabin, but there we have emotional support, the animals have to pay and then it is 340 pounds to get into the cabin and fly in the hole, it may be much more, around 800 pounds or so.

Hello. You, Tony, I'm Vicki, I'm from animal reception. Did you have a good flight? Yes, I do. I mean, I'm afraid of flying. The reason I didn't let my mother die in a plane crash. So my therapist. He said maybe he'll bring the dogs, yeah I'll get their microchips first, yeah okay, are you right about the strangers, yeah, yeah, he's a little traumatized because they've been here, dad, hi, do you like this? ? I've been here for like 13 hours. Is there somewhere I can take them to the circuit? Unfortunately, not until you get out of the luggage.

I'm afraid I'm flying from California, so I'm just visiting my boyfriend over the holidays, so I've never spent a winter here. He doesn't want to go back. It's stronger than 10 minutes. If you could close that zipper, not much. Now, when you pick up your bags, you're leaving. through the red part to declare the dogs, some officers have not seen dogs in the cabin before so they may want to take a look, but we have checked the documentation, the documentation is absolutely fine because we are a rabies-free country If I sign my name on something I am saying that animal does not have rabies that animal is fine to come to the country a lot of responsibility thank you very much thank you thank you goodbye most passengers leave the airport as soon as they have their suitcases, but the former stockbroker Michael has been stranded here since he landed 12 days ago.

He has no money or home to go to. You have to work very hard to stay clean. I don't have access to anywhere to clean my clothes. It will soon be very cold and I am afraid of being on the street without a roof under which I am afraid. Michael was deported from Thailand when his visa expired. I returned to the UK after 11 years working in Asia I don't have any assets in the UK all my friends are in Asia pretty much um and I found myself a bit stranded atget there you're better off with the cheapest ones because you can get more that's perfect luckily for michael because he flew to Heathrow he can get help from the only social workers based at the UK airport travel care we work with deportees homeless victims of crime marriages forced repatriates anyone who just needs time and attention to resolve the situation well, michael, I assume you have work appointment at the center uh this afternoon it's this afternoon yes, that's right, at ten to three this afternoon, at three ten in the morning, okay, did you get an Oyster card yesterday?

Yeah, tatiana kindly gave me £10 so she could buy an Oyster card and uh. enough money to get there and back yesterday, okay, what we'll do, we'll top it up so you can make that appointment. I appreciate your help, I'm really doing well, some people pick up the phone with a loved one or a friend and their situation is resolved immediately other people, like in Michael's case, maybe it's not as clear as that and it's possible that the family is no longer present or simply not in contact. You know, I appreciate this kind of help because it has put me in danger. he showed me directions that I otherwise wouldn't have been able to discover on my own trying to help people out of the airport start moving the situation forward the bus driver tells you which stop just keep an eye on the screen Okay, armed with a bus pass, Michael can now keep his appointments at the workplace, but he will sleep at the airport again tonight.

When they call you on a plane, I don't think you can guess what the patient is going to present. We suffer heart attacks. We have people dying on airplanes as passengers. Everything is worse because he is on the plane and they can't get off. The person feels more vulnerable. The thing is, you have to get there before they land because otherwise everyone is so desperate to get off that sometimes it's a bit of a battle to get on and get to the patient. So what is the problem? I just got sick. oh yeah, yeah, and my stomach just protected itself, now I'm just going to get a little feel of your stomach, does that hurt now?

Okay, take a deep breath now because it's unexplainable abdominal pain and I can't rule it out. it could be a rumble in grief, oh don't worry you will be fine if the patient has severe abdominal pain and other significant symptoms, it can be quite serious if someone gets appendicitis, the appendix can burst, what I would recommend is If you still feel so much pain, I would advise you to go to the hospital. Do you think I could get it if the taxes aren't gone? If I could fight together, it's up to you, yeah, stop passenger five, three, three, um. woman with abdominal pain she refused the hospital travel home by car and we will seek medical assistance if necessary you will be fine remove your hand, take it easy if they are adamant then you can go home You know, we can only advise Claire that she was right when worry because the patient was then rushed to hospital for an emergency operation to remove a three-centimeter gallstone.

The Zulu virgin of India appreciates your refusal to approve. Look west. The afternoon rush is over and Heathrow is winding. there are probably 10 more flights coming in now so yeah it's time to sleep if you can with no home to go to michael is getting ready for his 13th night at the airport the problem with this is you have arms separating each chair , so it's not going to work for me um unlike this way and suddenly I have an improvement on both sides of this in fact this is where I slept last night this is my bed I'm aware if someone tries to get in for these two zippers they put them against my arm because if I don't have an arm it will fall off it wakes me up I don't like that this is right after they finished my house the photos are all Michael has left of his life abroad that's my ex-wife -wife, but these were happy days, really happy days, I just had no idea what was going to happen, that he would have to approach me when Michael's relationship broke down, he was left with nothing, I expected to be working in Thailand, I didn't .

I don't expect the deportee to ever take his shoes off his feet on the pillow. Oh, deep joy as his benefits claim is evaluated. Michael is stuck living in terminal three to find out what kind of box he traveled in. Animal Health Officer Tara is starting her night shift. She and her colleagues are preparing for a dangerous guest. I need a little strength for that. It's not ideal to arrive at 10pm when there are only two members of staff. I mean, personally, I haven't been here that long. It's probably one of the most dangerous animals, so I mean I just have to keep an eye out and make sure the cage is up to par, feeling the pressure a little bit.

The box has flown in from Greece and will be headed to the San Diego Zoo. Tomorrow is a very big box, it's going to be very tight, the box contains a tiger and must be placed in a safe room for everyone's safety, as long as it fits, I'm not sure the forks are going to make it through with that door hanging . Concerned about the integrity of the box. I'm thinking about turning now. I'm not the best person to drive. This doesn't work for me. You have to remove the bag. It's just the size and weight. Good luck, guys, the tiger. hasn't eaten since I left Greece a little chicken a little beef I'm not sure what your preferences are but we'll offer it anyway in case it's always a stressor it just depends on each animal and, well, I mean you.

You can crate train them all you want, but you know, I don't think you can really prepare them for what's going to happen. All the noise scared as we are. I'm sure he's a lot more scared, but the mood has changed now that we've offered him. he food is completely out of our control we never know what's going to happen that's the beauty of the job heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world and its planes attract more than just passengers yes i left i just love doing it you You know, will it be ready in five minutes?

Sir Graeme is on a day trip to the airport when I decided to buy the van. Seeing planes was part of the ulterior motive. I know to you it's just a plane and it's something with two engines running. the wing and it leaves and you go on your nice summer vacation, but I am an aviation enthusiast, some do it purely for numbers, others do it for types of airplanes, there are so many different forms of hobby, the help, I need that like Well, American Airlines Triple Seven Graeme is one of over 20 plane spotters who visited this morning on this computer.

They are all the airplanes in the world, all the airplanes that have been manufactured and will be manufactured during the next six months. We just like to come and have the bottle, but I'll just go with you as you know, but I don't care, we get here at half past nine and we'll stay put at eight in the evening and then we'll go back to Luton to do it all again tomorrow At Heathrow, most of the planes are. guided to their positions by electronic systems, but today a plane arriving from Ireland with a special cargo needs the personal touch, we are bringing the plane, stop it here, you have your containers here and the handling agents can get stuck in and do what they need do, so it is a passion for any enthusiast working with airplanes is something quite special these are my little sorting gloves we use bats we use sticks we use gloves I like to wear gloves they are nice and orange and hopefully everyone will see you, I also have my hearing protectors here, which should work, but I'm already deaf, but don't tell everyone that the cargo on the plane is a prize racehorse making a stopover in Australia to compete in the Melbourne Cup. he's going down the cox play he played it in melbourne he's an extremely smart horse and they have high hopes of him winning the cox play so I don't like horses but it's good to see planes I'm afraid it gets me going. 30 years at Heathrow Glenn is a walking encyclopedia of airplanes.

I have a few thousand. I have slides. I have photographs. I have JPEG files. They are everywhere. Planes are a motivation for me, passengers. I won't go there. Michael has been stuck at Heathrow for over two weeks, but he finally had some good news. He did something very, very unusual and just followed the sign inside the airport terminal and it said chapel. I am not a religious person. I am totally agnostic. After I left there, I don't know if it had anything to do with the chapel, if it was, I'm no longer agnostic. DWP finally accepted my claim which changes everything.

Michael can now claim benefits in cash and with the help of Heathrow. The social workers also got me a bed in a shelter and gave me an address where I can look for work. It would be nice to say goodbye to Heathrow and not see it again for a long time. First step to really get back to normal. and I can't wait to go to bed to spend the night that you