Bournemouth Airport ‘vulnerable to intrusion’
24.06.08
Bournemouth Airport is ‘vulnerable’ to intrusion and has no permanent police team, a BBC investigation has revealed.
Annual passenger numbers at the Dorset airport are one million and could reach three million by 2014. But at a time when the national terror threat level is ‘severe’, the airport has gaps in its perimeter fencing, a BBC South Today examination found. It showed stretches where it had collapsed had been covered in loose plastic, and in places at the back of the airport, was non-existent.
Terrorism expert Professor Frank Gregory, of the University of Southampton, told the news company: ‘I see the airport as being vulnerable to a number of intrusions - for a whole variety of purposes, protests etc - and I am surprised there is not a consistent standard of barrier around the whole perimeter.’
In addition, although police carry out regular patrols around the terminal and the airport perimeter, there is no permanent police presence.
MAG Regional Airports, which owns and operates Bournemouth Airport, said: ‘The security of passengers, staff and businesses operating at the airport is our highest priority. Fencing is only one manifestation of the security regime. Besides fencing, a range of non-visible security measures are in place to ensure security of an airfield and the protection of passengers and aircraft according to strict government regulations.’
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