§ 26. Mr. McKibbinasked the Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation what consideration he has given to authorising the proposal for constructing, for the convenience of air travellers, a London underground station at the West London air terminal, through which three lines run, namely, the Piccadilly, Circle and District lines.
§ Mr. NugentI would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr. Grimond) on 8th July.
§ Mr. McKibbinI have no knowledge of what that reply was, but, in case it was that the terminal might not be permanent, does not my hon. Friend consider that a covered travelator on which passengers could stand with their luggage, running from the boundary of the air terminal to the western end of Gloucester Road Station—which would be a much shorter route than going round by road—would serve the purpose equally well? Does he agree that a travelator would cost much less?
§ Mr. NugentI am afraid a travelator would be a costly installation. The purport of the reply which I gave earlier to the hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland was that we could not undertake any costly installation at this point until final decisions had been taken by my right hon. Friend about the future travel arrangements between London Airport and central London.
§ Mr. BeswickIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the present arrangement under which passengers are decanted mid-way between the two tube stations is quite unsatisfactory? In lieu of that, could not he devise some more permanent and better solution of this problem and at any rate make provision for buses coming from the airport to discharge their pas- 1350 sengers outside one or other of the two tube stations? Since I understand the difficulty is simply a question of traffic lights, will he see if something can be done about that?
§ Mr. NugentI think London Transport has done its best in the matter, but I shall certainly have another look at it and see if we can meet the convenience of passengers in a better way.