Residents Anger over Late Night Flights

11.42.04am UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 6th Jul 2005

Vincent Cable, MP, said that he had been 'deluged' with emails and messages over the last week by residents furious at the noise of low flying aircraft taking off over Whitton, Twickenham and Teddington in the early hours of the morning.

On Friday he met Jill Kirk, BA's Head of Public Affairs, to convey the protests of residents. She explained that there had been a pile up of flights following a breakdown in the new air traffic control system and then serious delays caused by storms. In both cases the airlines affected had used up some of their night flights quota.

Vincent Cable said: "In my eight years as an MP. This was one of the worst period of disruptive late night take offs: most people in the Twickenham area were affected by low flying planes taking off close to and after midnight".

"This episode was also a warning of what life could be like if the airlines succeed in increasing their night flight allocation following the current round of public consultation on night flights. Because of the complexity of the questions, not many residents are participating in the consultation and there is a serious danger that the proposal to increase night flights could slip through".