While Taher is out on the runway, the terminal teams
are maintaining lifts, escalators, conveyor belts or
polishing floors. Simple tasks like changing a light
bulb have to wait until night-time. ‘You get the cherrypickers
out – huge, huge machines that get someone
right up to the roof,’ Taher says. With the Terminal 5
building being 130 feet tall, changing a light bulb with
passengers around wouldn’t be a good idea. Meanwhile,
once the continuous flow of luggage comes to halt, the
baggage team have their chance to replace rollers,
belts, and fix any abnormalities. ‘If they want to do
anything during the day, they can’t touch the system,’
Taher explains. Security is, perhaps, the only team who
winds down during the night. Their job remains crucial
for the operation of the airport, but with the amount of
entry and exit points cut down, it’s cheaper to shrink
the workforce.
Taher’s favourite part of the job is walking down the
runway at night. Every fortnight, he checks the runway
lights are screwed on as tightly as they should be,
surrounded by absolute silence. No roaring engines,
nothing for miles but the blinking runway and a starry
sky. ‘It’s so peaceful,’ he says, yet the task he dreads
most is this same one on a rainy night. In six hours’
time, Heathrow will go back to being the UK’s busiest
airport. Right now, it feels like the quietest place in
the world. The contrast, for Taher, is what makes it
so amazing.
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