Leeds Bradford - General Thread

[countdacash]

I suspect WH is correct in that MAN are charging the drop off fee because they can and their passengers have no choice but to pay up. I actually think LBA wins out here because of the free drop off in the Long Stay which most passengers can choose to use or pay the drop off charge - but their choice. Personally if the drop off charge at LBA is a proxy airport development fee, then I would rather pay this and have free drop off at the terminal - but not sure of the economics here.

 

[lbaspotter]

Great Headline in the Yorkshire Evening Post today. West Yorkshire Police found a couple travelling inbound to Leeds Bradford Airport with £130,000 worth of Cannabis in their baggage after a flight from Alicante

POLICE found £130,000 worth of cannabis in two passengers’ suitcases when they were intercepted at Leeds Bradford Airport.

Michelle Haillaissey and Rune Hogland. Background: Leeds Bradford Airport generic photo (Credit: Charlotte Graham)

Rune Hoglund and Michelle Hallissey were arrested next to the carousel in the baggage reclaim area as they waited for their luggage after getting off a flight from Alicante, Spain. Leeds Crown Court heard the suitcases had been intercepted and searched. Hallissey’s bag contained 6kgs of skunk cannabis. Hoglund’s bag contained 7kgs of the same drug. Carmel Pearson, prosecuting, said the drugs had a street value of up to £130,000 and a wholesale value of £58,000.
Read more at: https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co...suitcases-at-leeds-bradford-airport-1-9085691

 

[Bigman]

Does anyone know any more about some 51 old who died in a red Renault Clio up Cemetery Road last week?

 

[Dc99]

re the Customs successes at LBA. There was a prominent item on Look North last night too.
Does anyone here know if the Customs people are supposed to leave a note on your case if it is opened? A couple of weeks ago, returning from ACE to LBA, on opening my case I found that a cloth "sample" had been cut from an item at some point (ruining it, obviously). Nothing else seemed to have been disturbed.

 

[countdacash]

According to the T&A, LBA are citing 'terrorist threat' as the main reason to paint red lines on the approach roads. With the closure of the walkable free drop off zone, to one requiring bus transit, it all seems to add up to a blatant attempt to force the £3 charge on as many passengers as possible.

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co....f-no-stopping-zones-around-site/?ref=mr&lp=12

 

[jason1-11]

The Ryanair corporate jet EI-SEV was at Doncaster today.

Luckily, just for training ( I hope).

 

[Aviador]

re the Customs successes at LBA. There was a prominent item on Look North last night too.
Does anyone here know if the Customs people are supposed to leave a note on your case if it is opened? A couple of weeks ago, returning from ACE to LBA, on opening my case I found that a cloth "sample" had been cut from an item at some point (ruining it, obviously). Nothing else seemed to have been disturbed.

UK Customs won't usually open your bags, they generally want to know who the bag belongs to before they open it. The same would usually apply to security at the other end. On occasion when your bag genuinely needs looking at, if you cannot be contacted through the public address a member of the airline or handling agent would usually need to be present before security can open your belongings. Strictly speaking this could be out of date info now as I'm out of the loop and things could have changed.

 

[paully]

I`m just amazed there have been any customs officers at Leeds. Everytime I`ve been through, never seen one.

 

[White Heather]

According to the T&A, LBA are citing 'terrorist threat' as the main reason to paint red lines on the approach roads. With the closure of the walkable free drop off zone, to one requiring bus transit, it all seems to add up to a blatant attempt to force the £3 charge on as many passengers as possible.

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co....f-no-stopping-zones-around-site/?ref=mr&lp=12

That is simply not true. The road is owned by Leeds City Council and it is their decision to introduce the red zone. This is largely due to pressure brought by the CAA who have made comments about the impact of illegally parked vehicles when carrying out their audits of the airport. The council have decided enough is enough. As for moving the free drop off area, LBA are doing this because too many folk have complained that they want a drop off area that is on the car park bus route, so that is what they are doing. That requires the car park to move further away, but it will be much bigger than the existing one (which is often full) and anyone using it can just catch the free shuttle bus. It seems that LBA can't do right for doing wrong sometimes?

 

[quik123]

I've never seen the free 1 hour zone full and I walk past often. I have seen the bus full plenty of times, so I think it might be a mistake to move the free zone so far away that passengers need to use the bus. As for the 'red zone', there are already double yellow lines and no loading signs. If this was enforced properly there wouldn't be a problem. Painting red lines won't make a scrap of difference if it isn't enforced, and I don't think it will be.

 

[lbaspotter]

I've never seen the free 1 hour zone full and I walk past often. I have seen the bus full plenty of times, so I think it might be a mistake to move the free zone so far away that passengers need to use the bus. As for the 'red zone', there are already double yellow lines and no loading signs. If this was enforced properly there wouldn't be a problem. Painting red lines won't make a scrap of difference if it isn't enforced, and I don't think it will be.

Well if the Red zones are enforced like at Liverpool and Doncaster am sure the complaints level will go up a notch again. But that's just normal for us tight Yorkshire folk. Wont spend a penny and want everything for free!

Just seems like what ever the airport do, its never right for some...

 

[Aviador]

I've never seen the free 1 hour zone full and I walk past often. I have seen the bus full plenty of times, so I think it might be a mistake to move the free zone so far away that passengers need to use the bus.

I know a number of people have complained about the route to the airport on foot from the present location of the free zone. When I last flew from the airport I tested it out and for somebody who knows the airport well I had no problem but I can imagine somebody who doesn't know the airport all that well would have struggled. The move further away might seem silly initially but if it means it's moving to a more defined area that's easier to manage and with access to buses to and from the terminal I'm sure it will be well received.

As for the 'red zone', there are already double yellow lines and no loading signs. If this was enforced properly there wouldn't be a problem. Painting red lines won't make a scrap of difference if it isn't enforced, and I don't think it will be.

Although you're right about needing the council to enforce the law, if the markings aren't made correctly the bi-laws can't be enforced. Double yellow lines on there own make it perfectly legal to pick-up and drop-off. Double yellow lines with double yellow curb markings and signage does mean you can't stop to pick-up and drop-off but there's little that can be done as the council enforcement officers can only be in one place at a time. From what I understand it is possible to enforce a red route using ANPR and offenders can also be issued 3 points on their driving licence. In any case, at least the council is trying to do something about it!

 

[lbaspotter]

The Ryanair corporate jet EI-SEV was at Doncaster today.

Luckily, just for training ( I hope).

Ryanair, Easyjet & Jet2 have all used DSA for crew training purposes several times this winter due to its relatively quite airspace.

 

[Len Fish]

CCTV could be used to enforce the red zone as they do in London with box junctions I believe?

 

[paully]

Only tickets issued by the Police for a specified obstruction, say a junction, are licence endorsable. Any enforcement by the Council is a civil offence and can only be dealt with via the County Court. The have no powers within the Criminal Law, in this respect. Parking was decriminalised some years ago and therein lies a lot of problems, all over the place. The only way yellow to red will work is if they incentivise a private company to enforce it with ruthless efficency as thye do at Liverpool.
Personally I just don`t get the howls of anguish about the £3..In the grand scheme of things and taking into account how much people are paying for their jollies/trips etc its peanuts. I`ve paid it and at least I and others have been picked up and dropped quite close to the terminal building as opposed to lugging bags up a hill and often in the rain............tightasses

 

[countdacash]

That is simply not true. The road is owned by Leeds City Council and it is their decision to introduce the red zone. This is largely due to pressure brought by the CAA who have made comments about the impact of illegally parked vehicles when carrying out their audits of the airport. The council have decided enough is enough. As for moving the free drop off area, LBA are doing this because too many folk have complained that they want a drop off area that is on the car park bus route, so that is what they are doing. That requires the car park to move further away, but it will be much bigger than the existing one (which is often full) and anyone using it can just catch the free shuttle bus. It seems that LBA can't do right for doing wrong sometimes?

Don't shoot the messenger. This is what it said in the T&A. If it's not the case, then I would expect LBA to rebut it as the first thing people may think is there is some kind of imminent terrorist threat. Congestion/illegal parking were mentioned as secondary factors.

I have also never seen the existing 1 hour drop off full. Surely the best option is to retain this and introduce a bus transit drop off for those who would prefer this option. My experience waiting for car park buses at many airports is that by the time one shows up and has gone round the houses on the way to the terminal, the delay is far greater than the short walk from the current 1 hour to the terminal.

 

[White Heather]

Don't shoot the messenger. This is what it said in the T&A. If it's not the case, then I would expect LBA to rebut it as the first thing people may think is there is some kind of imminent terrorist threat. Congestion/illegal parking were mentioned as secondary factors.

I have also never seen the existing 1 hour drop off full. Surely the best option is to retain this and introduce a bus transit drop off for those who would prefer this option. My experience waiting for car park buses at many airports is that by the time one shows up and has gone round the houses on the way to the terminal, the delay is far greater than the short walk from the current 1 hour to the terminal.

The terrorist threat arises from the fact that the more vehicles are parked up on the airport road, the more difficult it would be to identify one that was there for terrorist reasons. Vehicles have been seen to block access for fuel tankers into and out of the fuel farm too, and there are also potential issues in the event of emergencies. I haven't seen the CAA Audits though so I don't know the full extent of their concerns, but they have been there for some time now.

The free drop off area is not visible from the road but is now clearly signposted. However, the current location is not adjacent to an internal car park road that is wide enough for the airport shuttle bus and creating such a road would be horrendously expensive. It would also remove part of the parking area so pointless. Although the free drop off zone is close to the road itself (Whitehouse Lane), that road is not airport land and the airport car park buses are therefore not allowed to stop/pick up/drop off on that road - only within the car parks belonging to the airport. The only other option would be to retain the existing free drop off for those who want to walk and create another in the long stay car park for those who want to use the bus. That would be far too complicated. I am sure people would end up in the wrong one. If they put the new drop off free car park in the right area, it will be the final stop before the terminal that passengers would get on the bus, so literally a 2 minute ride. LBA haven't yet decided where to move it to though.
/

 

[dmrodgers]

My experience this year of using the airport long stay car park at the bottom end of Whirehouse Lane, where I assume the new 1 hour free car park will be relocated, is that we had to wait in excess of 15 minutes for the bus to arrive to pick us up. Taking that into account and maybe a wait at the terminal to get back to the drop off zone soon erodes the free time period afforded. Unless of course the airport can ensure that the buses run more regularily between the car parks. Also as others have mention I tend to visit the airport regularily to drop and pick up family, at different times of the day, and have never yet seen the current free car park full.

 

[Aviador]

The airport isn't abliged to encourage use of a free zone nore is it in it's interest to do so. The free zone was introduced as part of the planning consent to extend the terminal and as we know this has yet to be carried out.

In all honesty I would just pay to use the pick-up and drop-off facility. If I drive to town I pay to use a multi storey. There's really no point looking for free parking on the extremities to then have to walk in. If anything airport users would be better focusing on getting the airport to maintain a fair price for use of the paid parking facilities.

 

[B737]

View attachment 8297 The famous 1 hour free car park.