Thanks(!) to National Express delays I leapt out of my coach seat in the central bus station at 2.20pm on Friday aiming for my 3pm BA flight from T5. Made T5 security at 2.35pm after a sprint (and luck with HEX timing) but had still missed conformance by 10mins.

Spoke to 2 different BA(A?) staff who both advised no chance of being let through (hand luggage only), but in desperation tried a 3rd member of staff by the self-service check-in who rang the gate and found out boarding had been delayed by 20mins. Was told I could "give it a go" - given a new boarding pass, which worked at conformance, and did indeed make the flight.

In the rush, sadly didn't get a name for a "well done" but 2 morals of the story:

1) Rigid conformance time for hand-luggage only is a bit of a joke (already been done to death on here I know!) but also:
2) If the first BA(A) employee doesn't tell you what you want to hear, try another one! :-)