Friday, January 16, 2009

Gatwick North Terminal

Misnomers (2). Gatwick North Terminal. It's not one terminal at all. It's two.

Why do I say that? Well, going to the new gates, numbers 101 et seq in the North Terminal is not a light hearted last minute undertaking. It gets in the way of using all of BAA's lovingly fitted shops and restaurants. If you have lots of stuff to carry and arthritis of the knee, forget it. It's 10 minutes walk. 

So often, transport utilities define a 10 minute walk as one which would take an arthritic tortoise 10 minutes provided it didn't get lost en route.  This walk however is a real 10 minutes up hill and down dale. It's a bridge between terminals, the old North and the new North. You have to walk as the travelators don't always seem to be willing to travelate (if that is the correct new verb) and the man driving the battery powered cart won't give you a lift even though he has 6 seats spare as "you didn't book and you're not disabled".  Interesting judgement, the latter. To be disabled you clearly need outward signs of disablement, stick, dark glasses, hearing aid or similar. I don't consider myself disabled but I do have a bad knee and find it hard to walk far. Don't think that does it though for cart drivers.

So, the new gates are miles away in a new building. Its not the North terminal except for one thing. It's only got loos and gates. 

No shops. 

No comments: