Place to lock stuff in at Stansted?

Hey,

I need to keep my luggage bags at Stansted, since I'll be going to London
for a few hours tomorrow, while waiting for my next flight. What's the cost,
and how large are these lockers?

//Oskar

"David Horne" <i_will_almost_never_read_thism> wrote in message
news:1fy5vy7.wptd151vpb7lwN%i_will_almost_never_re ad_thism...
> Chris Jones <dosuser@REMOVETHISbigfoot.com> wrote:
>
> Indeed. The same reason there are practically no litter bins anywhere at
> train stations or the london underground. I think it's silly, and I also
> think that if a terrorist wants to bomb the UK, they're not going to be
> put off by a lack of luggage lockers.
>

And yet, when you go to stations in the USA (even Union Station, presumably
a great target for terrorist attack) you have litter bins aplenty.

It is annoying after a long train journey I often have a load of rubbish,
e.g. newspaper, crisp packets, etc that I wish to throw away, the bins on
the train are full and no bins in the station, so I often have to take a
carrier bag full of rubbish to my final destination.. most certainly not
ideal.

"David Horne" <i_will_almost_never_read_thism> wrote in message
news:1fy5ne7.fil25s10u7y6sN%i_will_almost_never_re ad_thism...
> Oskar Lissheim <oskar@avocade.com> wrote:
>
> > That's absurd! Then I guess I'll have to take it with me :(
>
> It is _indeed_ absurd. Take it with you if you're on a _really_ tight
> budget, but to tell the truth, most travellers will just put up with it.
> Left luggage facilities in the UK remind me a bit of the Lily Tomlin
> sketch on Saturday Night Live for "The Phone Company"- 'We don't care-
> we don't _have_ to!'
>
> The problem is, in the UK at stations and airports, left luggage is not
> seen as a service, to be provided at reasonable cost, but as a way to
> further penalise travellers.
>

The bigger trouble is the PIRA used to plant bombs in these lockers

THATS why they were removed, it was felt that allowing large
numbers of people to be killed was too high a price to pay
for the convenience of travellers.

Keith
Keith

> > Indeed. The same reason there are practically no litter bins anywhere at
> > train stations or the london underground. I think it's silly, and I also
> > think that if a terrorist wants to bomb the UK, they're not going to be
> > put off by a lack of luggage lockers.
> >
>
> And yet, when you go to stations in the USA (even Union Station,
presumably
> a great target for terrorist attack) you have litter bins aplenty.
>
> It is annoying after a long train journey I often have a load of rubbish,
> e.g. newspaper, crisp packets, etc that I wish to throw away, the bins on
> the train are full and no bins in the station, so I often have to take a
> carrier bag full of rubbish to my final destination.. most certainly not
> ideal.

Not quite. The lack of litter bins is not to prevent real bombs, but to
limit the consequences of hoaxes.

Previously, all you had to do was say "I've put a bomb in a bin" and the
whole place was cordoned off for hours while the bomb squad meticulously had
to check every bin in sight.

"Arwel Parry" <arwel@cartref.> wrote in message
news:dbm5YJEjkSF$EwPK@cartref....
> In message
> <1fy5vy7.wptd151vpb7lwN%i_will_almost_never_read_t hism>, David
> Horne <i_will_almost_never_read_thism> writes
> >Chris Jones <dosuser@REMOVETHISbigfoot.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Actually, wasn't it something to do with terrorism?
> >
> >Indeed. The same reason there are practically no litter bins anywhere at
> >train stations or the london underground. I think it's silly, and I also
> >think that if a terrorist wants to bomb the UK, they're not going to be
> >put off by a lack of luggage lockers.
>
> In fairness to them about the litter bin problem, a passenger _was_
> killed by an IRA bomb left in a litter bin at London Victoria so the ban
> is not _completely_ illogical. Of course this was about 20 years

It was 1991, I make that 12 years ago

> ago and
> there's been an IRA ceasefire for most of the last 9 years so one would
> think it's time to become an ordinary civilised country again.
>

An number of bombs planted by the Real IRA bombs went off
2001 and the possibility of other terrorist groups attacking UK targets
is not exactly zero

Keith

"David Horne" wrote
| > When the IRA was at its height, if I remember correctly they had
| > to remove all the lockers and stuff - and nowadays international
| > terrorism is a convenient excuse to keep overcharging punters.
| That's pretty much what I think- i.e. that it's a convenient excuse to
| overcharge.

Whereas lockers were usually provided by the station manager and income was
expected to cover the cost of provision (buy/rent the locker machines,
maintenance, etc), the left luggage check-in, at least at British railway
stations AFAIK, is provided by private businesses who are expected to pay a
commercial rent for the premises within the station. They also have to pay
for staff (not just wages, but also employer's National Insurance and
employee liability insurance), which is a major expense compared to
non-staffed machine lockers. The business also has to raise a profit to pay
to its shareholders who invested their capital in the business.

The requirement to make money out of everything ignores the wider economic
picture that tourists unencumbered by luggage are likely to visit more shops
and spend more money.

Owain

"David Horne" wrote
| Owain wrote:
| > | Indeed, like Stirling! The luggage lockers there were closed
| > | indefinitely last time I was there (late June).
| > I went and checked this morning for you and all the lockers were closed,
| > I assume for 'security' as it's unliklely they'd all be in use, even in
| > July.
| No notice? There was one there in June citing "security."

No notice.

| > There *used* to be a staffed lavatories and left luggage counter,
| > conveniently located opposite the tourist info centre, run by the
| > council.
| > Then the council closed it.
| Well, I was recently in Cheltenham, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. The
| place was swarming with tourists, and the tourist office was closed, and
| lots of people went there, including myself, expecting it to be open.
| Typical British stupidity if you ask me!

Stirling main tourist office open Sundays (in high season, at least). The
daily hours aren't on the website.

Owain