Cold weather airport fines legislation delayed
04.03.11
Legislation that will impose penalties on Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick for poor performance during cold weather has been shelved by the Government, even though it was included in the Queen’s Speech, the Telegraph reports. It will now feature in the next legislative session, meaning the penalties are unlikely to come into effect before 2014.
Heathrow came under fierce attack from passengers, airlines and the Government after the airport was closed for five days by snow and ice before Christmas. The Government promised the law would be stiffened to place a legal obligation on airports to have proper plans in place to tackle bad weather.
However, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond has admitted that he has failed to secure a slot in this parliamentary session for his plans. This delay means passengers face at least two more winters without the added protection these reforms would have brought.
A spokesman for the Department for Transport told the newspaper: ‘The airports economic regulation bill remains a priority but there is a lot of competition for Parliamentary time and like any bill it must be subject to proper parliamentary process. At no stage did we claim that this bill would certainly be introduced in this session.’
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