There's a tunnel under the Terminal 5 Roundabout. It seems that hardly
anyone going to or from any of the terminals would use it, so I'm
wondering why it's there - but then you could also say the same about
the less substantial underpass beneath the Terminal 4 roundabout. Why
were they built?

In message , at 10:33:12 on
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, Basil Jet remarked:
There's a tunnel under the Terminal 5 Roundabout. It seems that hardly
anyone going to or from any of the terminals would use it, so I'm
wondering why it's there - but then you could also say the same about
the less substantial underpass beneath the Terminal 4 roundabout. Why
were they built?

It's the perimeter road. Likely to be used mainly by airport workers.

Maybe there's a tradition that it isn't interrupted by major routes into
a terminal. (For T1-3 it goes above the tunnel mouth).
--
Roland Perry

"Basil Jet" wrote in message
...
There's a tunnel under the Terminal 5 Roundabout. It seems that hardly
anyone going to or from any of the terminals would use it, so I'm
wondering why it's there - but then you could also say the same about the
less substantial underpass beneath the Terminal 4 roundabout. Why were
they built?

Guessing...

The existing perimeter road is possibly a key part of some safety plan or
other.

Paul S

On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:52:03 +0000
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 10:33:12 on
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, Basil Jet remarked:
There's a tunnel under the Terminal 5 Roundabout. It seems that hardly
anyone going to or from any of the terminals would use it, so I'm
wondering why it's there - but then you could also say the same about
the less substantial underpass beneath the Terminal 4 roundabout. Why
were they built?

It's the perimeter road. Likely to be used mainly by airport workers.

As a slight aside, there's a public road that runs past the end of the
runway at Gatwick. But woe betide anyone who stops there to watch the planes -
as we found out the police turn up in minutes and move you on with no messing
about. Seems a bit OTT since any terrorist who has a rocket launcher (which I
guess is what they're worried about) would do it from the nearby woods anyway
but I guess paranoia is the order of the day now.

B2003

On 2012\01\30 11:22, d wrote:
On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:52:03 +0000
Roland wrote:
In , at 10:33:12 on
Mon, 30 Jan 2012, Basil remarked:
There's a tunnel under the Terminal 5 Roundabout. It seems that hardly
anyone going to or from any of the terminals would use it, so I'm
wondering why it's there - but then you could also say the same about
the less substantial underpass beneath the Terminal 4 roundabout. Why
were they built?

It's the perimeter road. Likely to be used mainly by airport workers.

As a slight aside, there's a public road that runs past the end of the
runway at Gatwick. But woe betide anyone who stops there to watch the planes -
as we found out the police turn up in minutes and move you on with no messing
about. Seems a bit OTT since any terrorist who has a rocket launcher (which I
guess is what they're worried about) would do it from the nearby woods anyway
but I guess paranoia is the order of the day now.

Are you talking about here?
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=51.1458...6.3 8,,2,7.42

On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:35:55 +0000
Basil Jet wrote:
Are you talking about here?
http://maps.google.co.uk/?ll=51.1458...929&t=m&z=16&l
yer=c&cbll=51.145725,-0.215406&panoid=PB9FPSnd63ophXpzd9x3aQ&cbp=12,96.3 8,,2,7.
2

We parked further down on the grass (yes we saw the signs on the gate) but
still got moved on.

B2003

d wrote:

As a slight aside, there's a public road that runs past the end of the
runway at Gatwick. But woe betide anyone who stops there to watch the planes -
as we found out the police turn up in minutes and move you on with no messing
about. Seems a bit OTT since any terrorist who has a rocket launcher (which I
guess is what they're worried about) would do it from the nearby woods anyway
but I guess paranoia is the order of the day now.

The preferred location for lobbing things at the airfield used to be the hotel
carparks north of Heathrow, but they allowed industrial development on that side
of the field which kind of blocks the view.

"Robert Neville" wrote in message

d wrote:

As a slight aside, there's a public road that runs past the end of
the
runway at Gatwick. But woe betide anyone who stops there to watch
the planes - as we found out the police turn up in minutes and move
you on with no messing about. Seems a bit OTT since any terrorist
who has a rocket launcher (which I guess is what they're worried
about) would do it from the nearby woods anyway but I guess paranoia
is the order of the day now.

The preferred location for lobbing things at the airfield used to be
the hotel carparks north of Heathrow, but they allowed industrial
development on that side of the field which kind of blocks the view.

I thought the only time a mortar bomb actually landed inside Heathrow,
it was close to T4, on the south side of the airfield. I left from the
adjacent gate the very next day.

On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:17:21 -0000
"Recliner" wrote:
I thought the only time a mortar bomb actually landed inside Heathrow,
it was close to T4, on the south side of the airfield. I left from the
adjacent gate the very next day.

You hid for 24 hours until making your getaway?

B2003

"Recliner" wrote:

I thought the only time a mortar bomb actually landed inside Heathrow,
it was close to T4, on the south side of the airfield. I left from the
adjacent gate the very next day.

I don't know about the only time, but the IRA definitely parked in what was then
The Excelsior's car park, north of the field and launched mortars out the back
window of the car that landed near the north runway.

I was staying there that night and spent a little time with an interviewer from
The Met going over who I saw in the car park. I still have letters about the
incident The Met and the hotel slipped under my door that evening as a memento.

If you take a look at Google Earth using these coordinates 51°28'54.31" N
0°26'43.66" W you can see the north most taxiways were overbuilt with car parks
and industrial buildings.

It looks like the hotel is now called The Park Inn.