Body scanners introduced at Heathrow and Gatwick

Body scanners introduced at Heathrow and Gatwick 03/02/2010

Following the government's decision to strengthen security at UK airports, body-scanning equipment has been introduced at two of the UK's main hubs, London Heathrow (terminal 4) and Manchester. The machines, whose use was triggered by a security breach on a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day of last year, works by bouncing x-rays off passengers' skin to produce an outline image their bodies. This will enable the detection of concealed, potentially dangerous, items without requiring passengers to undress. The entire process is anonymous and the image produced is in black and white, displaying no distinguishing features therefore rendering the passenger absolutely unidentifiable. No images of passengers can be stored and, contrary to popular belief, security staff will not be able to see passengers naked. Even so, security personnel are not permitted to carry mobile phones or cameras and will themselves be searched before starting their shift. The machines themselves are perfectly safe, exposing a passenger to the same amount of radioactivity as five minutes spent in an area with naturally occurring background activity. Any passenger who refuses to pass through the scanner will be denied travel.

BAA's security director, Ian Hutcheson commented: "The security and safety of our passengers and staff is BAA's first priority. The introduction of full-body scanners and other technology is one significant step towards a more robust defence against the changing and unpredictable threat posed by terrorists."

The Editorial Team.

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