WTF? They won't give up people. We're still paying for these screwheads.

The emotional airport farewell has become the staple of countless romantic films from Casablanca to Love Actually.

But the tradition of seeing off a loved one before their flight could be facing its own sad end after being deemed bad for the environment.

Scientists wanting to discourage people from making unnecessary trips to the airport to cut greenhouse gases were yesterday awarded £500,000 of taxpayers' money.

Some of the cash will be used to develop video booths allowing passengers to bid a virtual farewell to their loved ones watching at home on a computer screen.

The grant - awarded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council - will also investigate ways to promote public transport and encourage car sharing.

Dr Tim Ryley, of Loughborough University, who will carry out the study alongside researchers at Cranfield and Leeds universities, said: ' Travelling to airports has a big impact on carbon emissions, but no one has yet identified how to reduce it. This study will address that gap in our understanding.'

A spokesman for the EPSRC, which hands out grants worth £850million, denied the £492,000 research was a waste of money.

But Mark Wallace, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'It is ridiculous such huge amounts of money are being spent trying to stop people doing something nice and harmless like seeing relations off at the airport.'

Source: Mail Online.co.uk, Jan 22 2010
By: David Derbyshire