NIGHT FLIGHT DELAYS – VIEWS FROM A RESIDENT

Heathrow is surrounded by villages, full of people trying to sleep at night. If a neighbour or company was to make as much noise as Heathrow makes at night, they would be arrested or shut down. From midnight to 4am every night Heathrow sounds like a building site with its drilling, hammering and heavy vehicles on the Northern runway while is carries out engineering works at night.

When I open my windows after 11pm, I don't want to hear jet engines thundering past. I don't want to breathe in the deadly nitrogen-dioxide firing out of their engines. I don't want to hear maintenance sawing of concrete, etc. Noise and air pollution levels should be decreasing after 11pm – not rising astronomically – every night.

Below is evidence of the astronomical levels of deadly nitrogen-dioxide that Heathrow is forcing us to breathe – the World Health Organisation limits NO2 levels to 10 micrograms per cubic metre (ug/m3). Heathrow exceeded 80ug/m3 on late at night on 7 July and 60ug/m3 on the evening of 10 July. This is unacceptable, especially in the summer when my neighbours and I want to have our windows open at night, without breathing toxic air.

Heathrow’s nitrogen dioxide levels rocketed to up to eight times the recommended limit by the World Health Organisation in July.

 Why should Heathrow be allowed to send a giant 4-engined A380 off to Dubai at 1am, thundering overhead and waking up and disturbing so many Londoners, and then have planes landing little over 3 hours later!

Heathrow’s CEO, John Holland-Kaye should be held accountable for every single flight taking off after 11pm. There is no emergency, there is no unusual weather delaying flights during the day, in fact there is no reason whatsoever to wake the whole of sleeping west London at 1am!!

The days of delaying a flight because of a "medical emergency" or "drunken passenger" onboard should be over! If anyone delays a flight, they should be made to pay for the passengers and crew to be put up in a hotel for the night, with the flight resuming the next day!

Heathrow must learn – if all its flights have not arrived or taken off by 11pm then they should not take off! Please end these unsociable and deeply disturbing planes.

Longford resident