BAA-re faced liars

Local residents and environmental activists are used to taking BAA's claims with a pinch of salt. After all, they've seen the company make numerous claims about just how big it wants Heathrow Airport to grow - only to immediately change their mind and demand further expansion.

While the T5 consultation was underway, Mike Roberts, Managing Director of Heathrow Airport Ltd (owned by BAA) sent a letter to local residents claiming that T5 was to be the last assault on their homes and communities. "I'd like to reassure you", he stated, "that [the Airport] will NOT require another runway or an increase in night flights".

Fast forward to 2005, and the story had changed somewhat. Having got its fifth terminal, BAA had decided that that it absolutely had to have both a third runway and a sixth terminal. It released a consultation document spelling out in no uncertain terms its plans to bulldoze through local opposition and plough ahead with a third runway.

With a track record like this, it's very hard to take any claims from BAA seriously...