Re: The airport bus F-Off comment

by G-Unit 01.03.15 16:18

Nothing about this holiday is ever straightforward! I had transfer by taxi in mind from Faro Airport to Praia da Luz because of something David Payne said. Then I looked at the video and it's clearly a bus with other people on it too. It doesn't look like a mini-bus to me either, which is how some people describe it. No sign of any child seats, although much was made of them by some. Makes me wonder if the video is showing the ride from the airport or another bus ride altogether.

Anyway, the BBC says the family released the video;

The parents of Madeleine McCann have released the last video clips taken of their daughter before her disappearance in Portugal nearly four weeks ago.
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This is what the Paynes, McCann's and Mrs Webster said;

The informant arrived in Portugal on April 28th at around 12.20/12.30 from Leicestershire to Faro and then to Praia da Luz. From Faro to the Ocean Club they they used the airport's shuttle service.
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a mini bus to take us to the err resort where we were staying err and there was a bit of a kafuffle because we had, he’d asked for several child seats for the err bus because obviously there were five children in the group and I think there was only, I don’t know if it was one seat or two seats, so there was a bit of time spent at the airport trying to find other seats err and I don’t think we did manage to get all six in the end so we just sort of risked it and were driven to Praia Da Luz.”
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I can remember you know them holding hands and you know getting on the plane and we've got the video footage on the, you know on the err phone of that you know when Madeleine, you know, slipped and banged her leg
Gerry had err had you know err paid for the flight and he'd sorted the taxis out over there. Err you know the being concerned about the child seats in the taxi but you know we were all relatively happy err going to the resort,
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From Faro, she arrived at the Ocean Club via mini bus taken from the airport. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
And at the other end we'd arranged, Gerry had arranged, erm, transport to pick us up, erm, at FARO and take us to the MARK WARNER.
'Erm, no, well we had a, erm, a sort of discussion about car seats, whether they'd booked the right car seats for the kids, erm, and I think, as it was, I think Madeleine didn't have a, a booster seat.
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The meeting point was in Portugal, at the OC, where his group arrived at about 14.30 on 28th April 2007, arriving from Faro airport in a small minibus provided by the airport services. The other group also arrived on the same day at about 13.00, also by means of a minibus.
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The meeting point was the Ocean Club where the interviewee's group arrived on Saturday April 28th at around 3pm from Faro airport in an airport mini bus. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

by worriedmum 01.03.15 17:20

It's difficult to tell if there are any booster seats in use on the video:I certainly can't tell if anyone is wearing seat belts. Given that one of the Payne children appears to be in a buggy which doesn't seem to be secured, and that there are other people filmed sitting behind, I wouldn't personally describe this as either a minibus or a taxi. There appear to be folding full length doors between Gerry McCann and Fiona Payne. Isn't this more likely to be the aircraft shuttle? From the tarmac to the terminal?

by G-Unit 01.03.15 18:03

You could be right, WM, but they still can't agree on how they got to the resort, can they? Shuttle bus, minibus, taxis.......I can take the differences in the descriptions of the bus, but why did David Payne say taxis? Dianne Webster stutters about not enough car seats, then says they couldn't get all six. For five children? Fiona Payne resorts to 'erm, transport' in the end.

by lj 01.03.15 18:39

I don't believe in the "it was all planned before they left" theories, but Diana Webster's "because obviously there were five children in the group" did raise a red flag.

by worriedmum 01.03.15 19:07

But there were two Paynes plus three McCanns -so five...........

by Guest 01.03.15 20:12

[quote="worriedmum"]It's difficult to tell if there are any booster seats in use on the video:I certainly can't tell if[i][b] anyone[/b][/i] is wearing seat belts[b]. [/b]Given that one of the Payne children appears to be in a buggy which doesn't seem to be secured, and that there are other people filmed sitting behind, I wouldn't personally describe this as either a minibus or a taxi. There appear to be folding full length doors between Gerry McCann and Fiona Payne. Isn't this more likely to be the aircraft shuttle? From the tarmac to the terminal?[/quote]

Yes. This point was discussed at length, I forget where

by canada12 01.03.15 22:39

If you study the video closely you can see that it's clearly two different trips.
The clothes Madeleine is wearing on the airport tarmac are slightly different from the ones on the bus video. Her trousers are a different length.
Also on the airport tarmac she's clearly not carrying her pink knapsack or anything large - it's just a plastic bag in her hand. On the bus video she's got a long handled pink suitcase beside her. Also the little girl beside her has longer sleeves on the airport tarmac. They're suddenly shorter on the bus. Look carefully at both halves of the video and you'll see.

by **Tony Bennett** 01.03.15 23:24

canada12 wrote:If you study the video closely you can see that it's clearly two different trips.

The clothes Madeleine is wearing on the airport tarmac are slightly different from the ones on the bus video. Her trousers are a different length.
Also on the airport tarmac she's clearly not carrying her pink knapsack or anything large - it's just a plastic bag in her hand. On the bus video she's got a long handled pink suitcase beside her. Also the little girl beside her has longer sleeves on the airport tarmac. They're suddenly shorter on the bus. Look carefully at both halves of the video and you'll see.

@ canada 12

After playing the video more than a dozen times, I am not persuaded by your hypothesis.

Let me agree though that on the aircraft steps, Madeleine's trousers look a bit longer, and so do the sleeves of the other girl's white blouse.

However, we see images of three people on the airport shuttle and then the three same people (Gerry McCann, Madeleine, and white-blouse girl) on the tarmac walking towards the aircraft steps. The coincidences of dress in the two clips are striking - to the extent that I believe they can be determined as occurring on the same trip, presumably within minutes of each other. These are as follows:

Colour (pink) of Madeleine's top - same in both clips

Colour (deep pink) of Madeleine's trousers - same in both clips

Child sitting next to Madeleine/walking up the steps with her - same in both clips

Colour (white) of blouse of girl next to her - same in both clips

Colour (dark grey/blacl) of girl next to her - same in both clips

Colour (white) of Gerry's T-shirt - same in both clips

Length of sleeve of Gerry's T-shirt - same in both clips

Gerry's blue jeans - same in both clips.

I also think the other girl may be carrying the same packet on the aircraft steps as she is in the transit train.

Further, I think that Gerry has a black holdall between his legs on the transit train and I think you see it again as he's walking towards the aircraft.

I also think that the colour of both of the two girls' shoes is same in both clips.

I can't therefore go along with your view that the three slight differneces you've mentioned overwhelm the striking evidence set out above that these two clips were both taken very close in time to each other.

by jeanmonroe 03.03.15 0:30

If GM wasn't 'there' to 'enjoy' himself then, WHAT was he 'there' FOR?

And did KM really try to say "any blood found in our apartment, MIGHT be from Madeleine's tiny 'trip' (grazed knee) on the airplane 'ladder'"

FIVE days LATER!

Even a Mr Tickle 'plaster' would have had that 'healed' by then!

Yes, i know, both she and GM 'tried' to 'blame' any blood 'found' on a 'hastily remembered' er, um, Madeleine 'nosebleed' only AFTER EVRD dogs 'indicated'! winkwink