Airport security blunder
20.02.10
Birmingham Airport is investigating a major security blunder after staff switched off a faulty metal detector - and forgot to switch it back on again when returning a security lane to use - the Birmingham Mail reports. The error was only discovered when fully-uniformed police officers walked through the scanners and the alarms did not go off. Metal embedded in their uniform and equipment usually causes the scanners to bleep.
A 'source at the airport' told the newspaper that hundreds of passengers had passed through the scanner whilst it was switched off on Sunday, February 14. The lapse comes at a time when the Home Office terrorism threat is ‘severe’, which means an attack is ‘highly likely’.
The Mail reports that the scanner had been turned off when it was ‘quiet’ because it was not working properly, but was not returned to operation when the security lane was put in to use again. A spokesman for the airport told the newspaper: ‘We have launched an investigation. It is believed that the detector was out of service for approximately 25 minutes. However, the passenger search procedure is one element of a multi-layered security approach taken on all flights.’
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