Over the years I have met a number of friends and business associates at Heathrow, and invariably find myself apologising for the sheer discomfort and grindingly slow process that they have just experienced — sometimes as their first introduction to Britain.

The airport also now presents an ordeal to the outbound traveller: I have learnt to allow two extra hours on a Monday morning to take account of road traffic, congested car parks and increased security precautions.

Heathrow is now the major portal to our country, and I hope that the airport planners are seeking to improve the whole site and its travel links, rather than planting a snazzy new terminal into an infrastructure that will struggle to support it. Or perhaps they are ahead of me, deliberately planning an airport that will be so unpleasant to the travelling public that there will never be any need for a congestion charge to regulate its use.

Yours sincerely,
TIM de FERRARS,
Bramble Cottage,
Seymour Road, Headley Down,
Hampshire GU35 8JX.
April 19.

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