Originally Posted by
HighLife
And often totally indecipherable shouted through the PA system sometimes in a strong Cockney accent... as a foreigner just arrived off a long-haul flight it's just one of those totally nonsensical and ill-judged 'welcome to Britain' moments for me
No wonder not all people comply - they simply can't understand what is being shouted and have never seen or experienced this in any other country! I certainly haven't. Either a train is at a platform and can be boarded, or it isn't.
+1. It's insane because it doesn't happen at any other airport I'm aware of. LHR isn't the only airport with a station in it! They don't do the same at Paddington. (Nor, as has been pointed out, on the Piccadilly line trains I think.)
And it doesn't happen at Terminals 1-3 either, which is also a station in an airport with people disembarking and embarking.
If they really have to, then at the expense of an extra movement, they should have thought of separating arriving and departing pax properly (i.e. arrivals on platform X, move train empty to platform Y, departures from platform Y).