Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Ambulances’ A&E diversion
MORE ambulances are being diverted to other hospitals as A&ES fill up.
NHS England data reveals that last week, 30 were re-routed – up from 25 the previous week.
Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said it suggests “an NHS struggling as we head into a period of huge pressure”.
Meanwhile, 20,032 people waited in ambulances for over 30 minutes in the past two weeks.
All but three English hospitals topped bed occupancy maximum 85% at least once in the past week. ARMY specialists were called in last night to hunt down the rogue drone operators who brought Gatwick Airport to a standstill.
The prank, described by police as a “deliberate act to disrupt the airport”, cost airlines millions and stranded more than 110,000 passengers.
An airport spokesman said last night that passengers should not come to the airport “for the foreseeable future”, including today.
The chaos led to anger over the apparent lack of emergency planning at airports, with Aviation Minister Baroness Sugg describing it as “unacceptable”.
But experts warn those disrupted may not even be entitled to compensation.
Two “industrial-grade” drones were first spotted flying inside the West Sussex airport’s perimeter at 9pm on Wednesday, forcing the runway to close.
The unmanned aircraft are capable of bringing down a passenger plane. Dozens of troops were drafted in to help police. They have equipment that can track drones and hone in on the culprits, who could be jailed for up to five years.
Some 110,000 passengers were due to take off or land at the airport on 760 flights yesterday, while 10,000 were affected on Wednesday.
Gatwick boss Stewart Wingate apologised for the chaos. He said: “This is a highly targeted activity which has been designed to close the airport and bring maximum disruption in the run-up to Christmas.”
Experts from security services and
A DRONE could take a jet down, and I think it’s inevitable that something will go wrong.
Approach and take-off are the big danger points in flying but also where drones will be active.
That’s potentially catastrophic – and I also worry about copycats who get a drone for Christmas.
Drones have become offensive government were summoned to a COBRA meeting yesterday to discuss plans to prevent a repeat of the incident. PM Theresa May said: “We’ve already passed legislation in relation to the use of drones so it is now, as has been made clear, that the activity that we’ve seen is illegal and those who are caught endangering aircraft can face up to five years in prison.”
Baroness Liz Sugg blasted the lack of emergency planning. She said: “It is not acceptable that passengers should face such disruption.” Some passengers still stuck at the packed airport terminal last night had been there for almost 24 hours.
Zac Morgan, a student at University College London, said: “Every hour they
GATWICK CHIEF EXEC
weapons. If one were sucked into a jet engine it could explode. We need regulations for drones, such as accreditation and insurance.
They should be treated the same as balloons and microlights.
have been changing the flight times, so instead of saying go home, they’ve been telling us to stay.”
Many inbound flights were diverted as far away as Amsterdam and Paris.
Luke Mccomiskie’s plane ended up in Manchester. The 20-year-old, of Aldershot, Hants, said: “It was just chaos and they had only two coaches and taxis charging £600 to get to Gatwick.”
Despite the disruption, experts say passengers may not get compensation due to “extraordinary circumstances”.
These are matters out of an airline’s control, such as a security risk.
Meanwhile, there were delays at Heathrow yesterday due to an IT glitch affecting the baggage check-in system.
They are now very responsive, very fast and can operate for miles. So we must get a grip by taking control.
And seeing police with guns on the runway is not the answer.
The situation is a shambles. It seems Sussex Police can’t find a simple drone. Yet we have very effective military means of