What was happening at Heathrow during the recent snow?

Travel Mole reports some interesting news:

'Airlines offered Heathrow operator BAA help in clearing snow and ice from the runways but were turned down for health and safety reasons, it emerged today.

...

... according to the Daily Telegraph, it seems Lufthansa and another unnamed airline said they asked to help because BAA was not clearing snow fast enough but were told that it contravened health and safety rules.

...

The paper reports a Lufthansa spokesman as saying: "The whole process took too long and should have been started earlier. There was not enough manpower available, we were surprised how long it took to get things operational.

"We were not allowed to clean stands for health and safety reasons. BAA gets a lot of money to operate the airport and they refused to do that."

Another airline said BAA was being “jobsworth” about clearing the snow, refusing to allow frustrated airlines to help.'

What a surprise 'Health and Safety' was one of the factors, I would never have guessed.