Tuesday 15th June 2004

Virgin on the Ridiculous

Planes, trains and automobiles

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Richard Branson has announced plans to use the new Gibbs Aquada amphibious car to ferry passengers from Heathrow Airport to the centre of London.

Upper class passengers will be whisked away in the small car and then cruise down the Thames to the capital.

[tuffer]

June 15th or April 1st?

[odysseyireland]

Probably true...I read a report on this car a while back and it suggested then that Branson was showing interest.

I think its a case of Branson liking the idea and then trying to find some use for it to justify buying it.

[anonymous-user]

Well, it's what he used to cross the channel yesterday in 100 minutes beating the previous record. And lets face it, at the now reduced cost of £75k I reckon he could probably afford a fleet without feeling the dent in his wallet.

[thanuk]

What's the speed limit on the river? I thought it was 4mph which would be slower than the traffic

[Crazy of Cookham]

I guess they will drive around the locks !!

[anonymous-user]

thanuk said:

What's the speed limit on the river? I thought it was 4mph which would be slower than the traffic

A quick Google shows that it's 8 km/h on the non-tidal river, 8 knots on the tidal river above Wandsworth bridge and no speed limit below that.

[track rat]

It is just another load of Branson PR bullshit. Better to swim down downriver or turst your luck to London's top rated tube system.

Remember the Amphicar

[roger986]

He has done this before some years ago using ex military troop carriers, the passengers got driven from heathrow to Brentford marina, then joined the Thames for the trip into London


Roger

[andynormancx]

What's the betting that if Mr B goes ahead with this that Gibbs will end up footing the bill for supplying the cars. He does so like spending other people's money on vetures like this.

[Dodge]

I figured the halving of the price to £75K was probably due to a massive cash injection from Mr Branson covering a larger portion of Mr Gibb's development costs, so they could make the same profit at half the price, or something.

Might be a trifle naive, though.