Heathrow ban on baby buggies 'to protect staff'

12 April 2012

Parents are being forced to carry their children nearly half a mile at Heathrow airport after a baggage-handling firm refused to take baby buggies because of health and safety fears.

The company, which serves airlines including bmi, Lufthansa and SWISS, claims a lack of lifts means its staff risk "manual handling injury".

The ban means that, on departure, parents have to leave their buggies at the check-in desk, then carry their children onto the plane, rather than being allowed to keep the buggy up to the door. On arrival, instead of being reunited with the buggy as they leave the plane, they are forced to carry toddlers through passport control and into the baggage reclaim area.

Menzies Aviation's action affects around 150 planes it services at Terminal 1 each day and general manager John Henderson said his staff faced "a number of unique challenges with airport infrastructure".

He said: "Many of the jetty-served stands do not have a lift. Repatriating a passenger with any piece of luggage at a gate which is not served by a lift requires the ramp agent to manually handle the item up or down a stairwell.

"We understand that in other terminals at Heathrow airport, if not all, jetty-served stands have a serviceable lift, which enables the handling agent to repatriate baby buggies irrespective of size without any risk of manual handling injury."

He added: "We continue to push the airport to improve the infrastructure in Terminal 1 to eliminate the risk of manual handling injury."

The ban applies to buggies weighing more than 5kg, but most models are heavier.

A bmi spokeswoman said it was committed to ensuring that mothers did not struggle through Heathrow and staff would help them carry children and bags. "While a solution is being found, the bmi team will continue to help our customers wherever possible."

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