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And just as we thought it was getting
better! Just as we began to see business increase slightly, we were suddenly hit with the Ash from Iceland, which in turn has had a detrimental effect on the London economy as well as the rest of Europe too, due to the disruption forced onto the aviation industry. March 2010 was the first time in two years that the Society had shown an increase over the corresponding month of the previous year. In other words, we turned over more in March 2010 than we did in March 2009 and suddenly the world looked to be a slightly better place. Then just as suddenly, the volcano by the unpronounceable Eyjafjallajoekull glacier in Iceland decided to erupt for the first time in 200 years. Someone once said that timing was everything, but I think they may have got it slightly wrong this time as the eruption grounded most European flights and had a detrimental effect on our business. It stopped many tourists from coming here and those that couldn’t leave London, just ran out of money with shopping centres such as Oxford Street reporting a 10% + drop in takings in just one week. However, no matter what the situation, there is always someone or something that will endeavour to capitalise on other people’s misfortune. In this instance, it was other forms of transport and hotel accommodation. Several days before writing this and following BA boss Willie Walsh’s decision to go up and about in a 747 to "prove" that in his opinion it was safe to fly, UK airports were given clearance to resume services and as I sit here tapping away at the keyboard, that situation has been maintained. The Royal Navy has come out with flying colours – but few others have. I always remember at school one of my teachers explaining that the first rule of economics was greed! That was also portrayed in the 1987 film, Wall Street, where |
 Michael Douglas played the fictional character of Gordon Gekko. In the movie, Gekko states that ‘Greed is Good’, a saying that may well have epitomised the 1980s and quite probably continued right up until the financial crash of a few years ago. From that time on, the esteem in which brokers and bankers were held has somewhat diminished or indeed for some, even evaporated totally! However, my point is that we never seem to learn and whenever an opportunity to make money from other’s misfortune comes around, many just seem to jump onto the bandwagon. The more polite among them call it supply and demand! I recently read in the Daily Telegraph various comments on how different companies were exploiting the situation. For instance, although Eurostar trains had been fully booked and transported an extra 50,000 passengers while the airlines were grounded, the operator was charging £223 for a single ticket from Paris to London, which is substantially more than the £69 the fare will return to now that the eruption is subsiding and life returns to something approaching normality. The cost of taking a car from Folkestone to Calais went up to £147, but that fare will eventually return to £53. Again, while all domestic flights were grounded Virgin Trains were charging £93 for the cheapest one-way fare from London to Glasgow, which is more than double the price you would be charged the following month. On the day the airlines were first grounded - Thursday 15 April - the cheapest available room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, |
Heathrow was £355. With no ‘eruption
disruption’ that price drops back to the regular low rate of £99. The Telegraph article went on to say that two banks, Nat West and RBS - which we know are really just one - had increased limits on credit cards ‘where necessary’ to help customers cover unexpected bills for emergency travel and hotel arrangements. When a spokesperson was interviewed from these organisations, they all voiced the same rehearsed piece that they were not ‘cashing in’ on the situation, they were just reacting to current trends and not exploiting a supply and demand syndrome. All I can say is that I hope the public - when things return to normal - remember those that exploited the situation. Perhaps they weren’t doing anything illegal, but I’d place it in the unethical tray. Although flights are pretty much back to normal now - probably thanks to night-time landings at Heathrow, authorities hastily arranging for late buses and the Jubilee Line running later than usual, they also, of course, required the assistance of the London Taxi industry for drivers to work through the night in order to transport some of these passengers. I know we have a reputation that some like to portray of being greedy, but I bet you will not find any taxi drivers that were demanding treble the normal fare and exploiting the situation!
Summer! Brian Rice |
