My Column

Buckle Up...Its skyway robbery at our airports.

  • Date: Monday 1st May 2017
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I’ve slammed unnecessary airport charges for drivers before in this column – Edinburgh Airport being a prime offender last year – but it appears the sky is now the limit.

Increasingly when you’re taking off, airport operators are taking the rip, and it needs to be firmly nipped in the bud before serious damage is done to local economies.

Last August, Edinburgh Airport was criticised widely for charging £3.90 to park for 15 minutes, with the RAC correctly labelling it “sky high”.

Then, Glasgow Airport this week introduced a £2 drop-off charge for drivers staying up to 10 minutes in response to so-called “severe congestion”. In other words, that’s a couple of quid simply to drive around the block in the vast majority of cases.

Worse still, it’s a £30 charge for an hour-long wait, so if your loved one’s flight happens to be delayed, you’re paying an even more disproportionate fee for the privilege of a short stay.

Now, you can say the basic £2 charge is hardly a lot of money, and in the grand scheme of things, you might be right. But when it’s a wholly unjustified penalty that lacks basic common sense, it’s inevitably going to get people’s backs up – mine included.

Unsurprisingly, I’m not the only one. Some 8,000 quite rightly signed a petition against it, with angry motorists’ choice comments further slamming the stupid concept. One local taxi driver branded the idea of congestion as ridiculous, saying he’d been picking up and dropping off passengers for 30 years at varying times and had “never experienced any problems”.

One even suggested a way drivers could take action to show their displeasure, saying “I reckon everyone should take their 10 minutes. Just sit there after dropping off. When they come along to move you on just say no I’ve paid for my 10 mins thanks … that would put a spanner in the works.”

Let’s call this charge what it really is – a greedy tax on motorists who are forced to put their hand in their pocket for the sake of the kind of convenience that any transport hub should be able to offer free of charge.

It’s just another appalling expense for hard-working people who have already shelled out for travel and accommodation costs, along with all the associated taxes and charges.

Imagine you’re trying to take a family of four on a foreign holiday – that’s potentially expensive in itself before you’ve even gone anywhere. Factor in costly airport food and drink, maybe a little duty-free shopping, perhaps a taxi from the airport at the other end, and it massively mounts up.

No wonder staycations are on the rise again and we’re all counting the pennies against a backdrop of real economic uncertainty.

Unsurprisingly, there have already been ‘teething issues’ at Glasgow Airport caused by the new system. A problem with traffic lights resulted in big tailbacks on the first day of its introduction. So much for easing congestion!

Airport chiefs have pointed out that a free pick-up and drop-off area is available in the long stay car park, with a shuttle bus to and from the main terminal – but of course, that won’t work for a lot of people.

I was interested to see some Glaswegians think the airport should be renamed in Billy Connolly’s honour after voting for the Big Yin overwhelmingly in a survey.

Personally, I think that they should name the new drop-off charge after our home-grown comic legend – because, like his classic gags, it’s a complete joke.

But who’s laughing? Not you and me, that’s for sure.

 

SIDE

Brexit has put the spotlight on labour shortage worries, but that’s not the only factor that’s causing concern.

There’s also the issue of our ageing population which is a real headache for a number of industries. Some are simply not attracting the same numbers they used to.

The result? An increasingly aged workforce, and a lack of new skilled workers to fill the void when they retire.

And while there are some great initiatives, like modern apprenticeship schemes, to address this in the long-term, there’s still a skills gap in the meantime as the current workforce retires – some of them early.

I was exploring reasons for early retirement and came across research from a few years back, looking at middle aged men and women, which found hearing loss was associated with retiring early.

That got me wondering about the economic impact.  A recent report released by Specsavers Audiologists showed hearing loss actually costs the UK economy a staggering £1bn a year.

But it also said 98 per cent of cases could be helped with hearing aids or other types of intervention – I wonder how many people are aware of that?

I noticed Lorraine Kelly taking to Twitter just the other day with a picture of herself at Specsavers getting a hearing test – well done to her.

Bearing in mind the shocking stats above, it’s great to see one of Scotland’s best-known TV personalities is going out of her way to try and educate people on the issue.

 

LAUGH

The Scottish construction industry’s looking better than it has in years when it comes to job opportunities - but if things take a turn for the worst, you can always try Mars for work.

The planet that is, not the chocolate bar. I had to laugh at reports that brickies could be in demand on the red planet.

The reason? Boffins have discovered that Martian soil can be turned into bricks stronger than steel-reinforced concrete.

But if you fancy being an astronaut-brickie, you’d better be prepared to put your thermal long johns on.

If you thought Scotland was cold, it’s nothing compared to Mars’ forbidding climate of minus 60 degrees! Only the hardiest need apply.

 

WEEP

On the face of things, it sounds positive when you hear there are Scots out there earning a whopping £2,600 a week.

But when you think about how little the country’s lowest earners take home, it paints a far bleaker picture. A startling published study last week has revealed the true gap that often exists side-by-side in neighbouring communities.

Only one per cent enjoy that massive wage, while 10 per cent have to scrape by on £240 a week at the other end of the spectrum.

It sickens me to hear that more than a million residents are still living in poverty – that’s one in five.

 

Good for Oxfam who highlighted the stats and called for more to be done to tackle inequality.

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