Welcome to Britain? What my Mum’s airport ordeal says about us

My 88-year-old mother, who lives in America, paid a state visit to england recently. Like most women of her World War II generation, she is determined, in the words of Winston Churchill, to KBO (Keep Buggering On) and tries to remain as active as she can.

even so, whenever she flies we request a wheelchair at the airport to spare her having to walk too far. In the U.s, the system usually works like a dream.

On departure, there’s always one at the kerbside waiting to whisk her through security. On arrival, she’s picked up as she leaves the plane and transported to the car.

so naturally she expected the same level of service flying between Detroit and Heathrow. No such luck. When she got off the plane in London there was no wheelchair, even though one had been requested.

My sister, who was travelling with Mum, managed to hitch a ride on an electric buggy, which took them to a holding area, where there were dozens of passengers in the same predicament, many of them elderly. she was told there wouldn’t be a wheelchair available for an hour.

Mum, being Mum, decided to walk. But others with serious disabilities were stranded in limbo, at the mercy of the company paid to provide assistance.

Many of these unfortunate folk were visiting england for the first time. The Americans, in particular, were horrified at the inefficiency and indifference which greeted them. Welcome to Britain. Have a nice day. Obviously, to make sure there wasn’t a repeat performance, we doublechecked that there would be a wheelchair for her return journey this week. But when she turned up at Heathrow’s Terminal Three on Tuesday morning, it was the same story.

Mum managed to walk through security and made her way to the Virgin lounge. The staff there couldn’t have been more sympathetic, but had no luck in locating a wheelchair.

With half an hour to go before the flight, she was informed there wouldn’t be one available for another hour. Fortunately, a Virgin representative managed to arrange a buggy. But that didn’t make the experience any less distressing.

LEST you think this is special pleading, I should emphasise that my mother wasn’t the only passenger requiring special assistance left to fend for herself. The last thing anyone needs after a tiring long-haul flight is being kept sheep-like in a holding area for another hour. similarly, catching a flight can be stressful enough for those with mobility problems, without the ordeal of discovering there is no wheelchair to take you to the departure gate.

None of this was the airline’s fault. Heathrow is owned by the spanish multi-national Ferrovial, which outsources services to an American company called Omniserv, itself part of a much larger group.

On its website, Omniserv describes itself as a ‘People Company’ — always a bad sign. In the first six months of this year, it made a profit of $11.8 million (£9.4 million at the current rate of exchange). Its chief executive has a salary package worth $2,131,686 (£1.7 million).

As part of its service agreement with Heathrow, Omniserv promises that 96 per cent of passengers who have booked a wheelchair will be attended to within five minutes of arrival and no one will have to wait for more than 20 minutes.

On departure, it claims 97 per cent of those with reduced mobility will not be kept waiting for longer than ten minutes, and everyone will reach the gate in time for their flight.

Clearly, those guarantees are worthless. Ultimate responsibility lies with the airport’s foreign owners. Last year, Heathrow posted pre-tax profits of £223 million. Like every other major British airport, Heathrow’s terminals have been converted into giant shopping malls, with a few departure gates tacked on as an afterthought.

No opportunity is missed to milk passengers, from rip-off charges for parking — and even dropping off at the kerb — to ‘duty-free’ shops which are no cheaper than those in the high street.

As I have written before, flying anywhere these days is an ordeal, compounded by the greed of the airport operators and the stupendously ridiculous rules at security.

I don’t blame the staff, I blame those in charge. Renationalising the airports wouldn’t make any difference, either.

Look at the chaos at stansted this week, where 5,000 arriving passengers were stranded for hours because the Home Office hadn’t bothered to lay on enough Border Control staff to inspect passports. As a result, many of them missed the last train and had to fork out for hefty cab fares.

even the shortage of immigration officers has been turned into another opportunity to fleece captive travellers, who are now being offered a ‘fast-track’ service in exchange for a charge of £17.50. Why should we have to pay extra to make a smooth exit?

In her speech to the Tory conference, Theresa May talked this week of tackling company bosses who pay themselves vast salaries and dividends while simultaneously neglecting their social responsibilities. she should start with those who run this country’s airports.

And while she’s at it, Mother Theresa should order her new Home secretary Amber Rudd to sort out the routine delays at passport control. sharpish.

From the lack of wheelchair provision to the long queues at immigration, our airports are a hell on earth. What sort of a first impression of Britain do stansted and Heathrow offer to visitors from overseas?

Oh, and it almost goes without saying that when Mum arrived at Detroit, a wheelchair was waiting for her and she was out of the airport and on her way home in 15 minutes.