So the Government's response to the recent impact of the exceptionally rare and extreme of recent weeks is to consider fining airports for letting passengers down.
I despair. This type of knee-jerk reaction is designed purely for effect and to try to convince the electorate that Government is 'doing something about it'. Of course, if there is genuine failure on the part of organisations such as airports, there should be penalties, but these are already enshrined in various agreements and laws; travellers have rights and can exercise them, but the recent weather has been the most severe this country has experienced in decades.
Is the Aviation Minister, Ms Villiers, going to define what she means by the phrase 'let passengers down' ? Indeed, how can this phrase be properly defined, with its clearly open-ended wording ? Airports should be prepared and able to cope with conditions which occur with reasonable frequency but they cannot be expected to deal with all possible scenarios unless they also pass the additional costs onto their customers. Fining them will be no different, and the costs will ultimately appear as higher prices for travellers.
This Government originally said it was intent on sweeping away the mountains of red tape and bureaucracy created by the last lot; is it now simply planning to replace what it doesn't like with its own brand of crap ?
No comments:
Post a Comment