Gatwick fixes dodgy check-in scales

News at Gatwick 18/10/2010

Gatwick planning major refurbishment : October 2010 : A380 approved for flights through Gatwick

Repairs made after investigation by Trading Standards.

Gatwick airport announced that it has fixed all of the faulty baggage scales at the airport after the accuracy of the devices was checked by Trading Standards. A report by Trading Standards found that many scales in Gatwick airport were faulty. The report said this led to many passengers wrongly having to pay ‘excess’ baggage charges.

Officers from Trading Standards investigated scales at the airport after a member of the public complained. According to the customer, she was told her bag was three kilogrammes over the limit of 20kg. After she took her bag off the weighing scale, however, the scale still read 5kg. Trading Standards checked 18 scales at the airport. It found that 10 of them reported a weight even when there was no bag on the scale.

The scales have buttons to ‘zero’ the weight display. However, many of these buttons were found to be broken. As a result, the weight recorded from the previous baggage ended up being added to that of the next bag loaded onto the machine.

Gatwick airport said it has a rigorous system in place to ensure faults are recorded on a daily basis so airlines and handling agents can report any problems for investigation. Weighing scales are operated by airlines and maintained by the airport. The airport added that all scales identified as faulty were immediately recalibrated and reset to zero.

Gatwick planning major refurbishment : October 2010 : A380 approved for flights through Gatwick

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