On 02/09/2014 21:04, Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at
19:33:48 on Tue, 2 Sep 2014, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
One of life's big ironies a few years back was a Which? report slagging
off foreign airports that falsely claimed to be close to well known
cities. In the same issue they gave "London Stansted" a ringing
endorsement, despite being further from its eponymous city than any of
the foreign airports they were complaining about.

To a certain extent, distance is less important than transport links.

A distant airport with a fast and easy-to-use train to the city centre
every 30 min, perhaps even a mainline connection to anywhere in the
country, is less of an issue than a edge-of-town airport with a
solitary bus...

Stansted is OK southbound to London, as long as you take the timings
with a pinch of salt (the advertised time is only as far as Tottenham
Hale, which in some respects one can't deny is "London").

This old canard you keep bringing up. The reason the timing to Tottenham
Hale for 'London' was highlighted a number of years ago is because
someone (rightfully) lodged a complaint with the ASA regarding National
Express's advertising at the airport (at the time NX ran the TOC and
hence Stansted Express), and the ASA upheld the complaint. The period
that the dodgy timing to Tottenham Hale for London was advertised (and
similarly for the coach service, Stratford for 'London') wasn't very
long, and it stopped several years ago.

....

Here we go - 2010:
http://asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudications/2010/9/National-Express-Group/TF_ADJ_49010.aspx


Anywhere else and it's a joke. And don't forget they just decided to cut
the last two trains to London in the evening.

I guess you're referring to the 0100 and 0130 trains which only ran on
Friday and Saturday mornings, rather than throughout the week.