Immigration at LHR on Boxing Day
Dec 15, 2016, 9:24 am
#16
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,762
Shops will be open from Boxing Day.
Dec 15, 2016, 9:37 am
#17
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: London
Posts: 1,117
Analise - I'm pretty sure there'd be a significant market for Boxing Day trains, and I think various surveys support this.
However I think the issue is more that changing railway staff working practices to accommodate this world be a very difficult task. The private train franchises here are time limited and so they don't really have a great incentive to go through the rigmarole of changing staff working patterns, despite the fact that in the long run it would be a good thing for the railways
For example currently the weekend and in particular Sunday service relies on staff working overtime, so if staff decide not to opt for overtime (sometimes as a kind of unofficial protest or negotiating strategy with their employer, sometimes perhaps just because it's the summer and there's sons good sport on tv) then the full service cannot be provided.
However what these older working arrangements don't take into account is that the world has changed and demand for weekend and in particular Sunday trains is much higher these days.
So providing a service on Boxing Day is kinda all wrapped up in that!
Meanwhile if you were to go to Victoria Coach Station in London on the 26th you'd likely find it pretty busy.
However I think the issue is more that changing railway staff working practices to accommodate this world be a very difficult task. The private train franchises here are time limited and so they don't really have a great incentive to go through the rigmarole of changing staff working patterns, despite the fact that in the long run it would be a good thing for the railways
For example currently the weekend and in particular Sunday service relies on staff working overtime, so if staff decide not to opt for overtime (sometimes as a kind of unofficial protest or negotiating strategy with their employer, sometimes perhaps just because it's the summer and there's sons good sport on tv) then the full service cannot be provided.
However what these older working arrangements don't take into account is that the world has changed and demand for weekend and in particular Sunday trains is much higher these days.
So providing a service on Boxing Day is kinda all wrapped up in that!
Meanwhile if you were to go to Victoria Coach Station in London on the 26th you'd likely find it pretty busy.
Dec 16, 2016, 11:10 am
#18
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Join Date: Mar 2001
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It's hard to imagine that there is no train service on bank holidays. Our Memorial Day holiday, for example, has packed trains toward the end of the day into the evening returning to NYC. On Thanksgiving, our trains are packed coming into and out of NYC. They are on Sunday schedules which are often hourly.
Buses would not nearly be enough to handle the demand.
Dec 16, 2016, 12:41 pm
#19
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: London
Posts: 1,117
We do have a train service on bank holidays, just not on Boxing Day (the 26th), with a handful of exceptions.
The 27th is a bank holiday as a substitute for Christmas Day, because the 25th falls on a Sunday - and there will be train services running on the 27th.
(I should add that things are a bit different north of the border in Scotland, where on the 26th / Boxing Day a revised train service runs on most of the Scottish network.)
Dec 17, 2016, 12:28 pm
#21
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Hi all,
I'm landing into LHR T3 at around 9am on Boxing Day.
What do you think? Should I expect:
- an extra busy immigration hall?
- a normally busy immigration hall?
- an empty immigration hall?
P.S. The train/tube strikes *shouldn't* affect us. We'll be using the Rail-Air coach service to Reading and then getting picked up by family to go to deep, dark Berkshire.
I'm landing into LHR T3 at around 9am on Boxing Day.
What do you think? Should I expect:
- an extra busy immigration hall?
- a normally busy immigration hall?
- an empty immigration hall?
P.S. The train/tube strikes *shouldn't* affect us. We'll be using the Rail-Air coach service to Reading and then getting picked up by family to go to deep, dark Berkshire.
Dec 17, 2016, 3:47 pm
#24
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Dec 17, 2016, 5:16 pm
#25
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: London
Posts: 1,117
There are only a handful of routes with any service on Boxing Day, and none of the 'intercity' class of routes have any service whatsoever (in England & Wales, things are different in Scotland).
Dec 17, 2016, 6:37 pm
#26
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Dec 18, 2016, 12:01 am
#27
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Dec 18, 2016, 2:44 pm
#28
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Yep, the UK is pretty amazing at this time of year. 
A real opportunity to wind down and at least in my line of work be able to tell clients you're not going to be around & there's no problem at all with that.
As has been noted up thread (and I admit service/retail industries are different) but large swathes of the population take just two and a half or three days off work, which translates into a ten day break.
A real opportunity to wind down and at least in my line of work be able to tell clients you're not going to be around & there's no problem at all with that.As has been noted up thread (and I admit service/retail industries are different) but large swathes of the population take just two and a half or three days off work, which translates into a ten day break.
Dec 18, 2016, 3:38 pm
#29
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Best time of year. People calm down, relax and de-stress. And return re-invigorated in the New Year. I don't know anybody whose office is even open between Christmas and the New Year.
Dec 18, 2016, 3:52 pm
#30
Join Date: Aug 2013
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