UK Airports - Not good news!
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Hi Guys,
I learned last night that foreign workers who work airside
at UK airports do not have to undergo full mandatory criminal
records checks according to the BBC's Newsnight program.http://www.airport-int.com/news/2008/05/08/foreign-airport-workers-criminal-records-checks
This is quite unbelievable in light of the stringent security
checks that passengers have to undergo. I regularly travel
to / from Gatwick and dread the thought of the often half
mile long line to get through security.Mike
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When I heard this I found it unbelievable.
I hope they now take action and change this now it has been brought to the publics attention. -
I don't know anything about UK airports, but generally there is a simple reason: It is impossible to do a (reliable) check about a foreign person. What if, for instance, the person has been persecuted in his/her own country?
Anssi
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I was in London in 04 and I found Heathrow to be only slightly worse than the Hell. . .musta been a good day for them.
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Anssi,
I take your point that its not always possible to check some
refugees background particularly political refugees but I really
don't believe they should be employed in sensitive areas.Both Britain and Ireland have I think too liberal an attitude
with regard to unproven political refugees. Here in Ireland,
and I think its the same in the UK, they are treated much the
same a citizens. Now I'm not advocating that they should be
kept in prisons but I would like to see some more caution taken.
Perhaps look at how the French handle things.Again! the Legal Eagles have jumped on the gravy train in this
regard over here and are milking the system.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/false-claims-help-bill-for-asylum-seekers-to-hit-8364300m-1366632.htmlThey never miss a trick
But there again I would expect
nothing less from various sections of this profession.Mike
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@mike lucey said:
Both Britain and Ireland have I think too liberal an attitude
with regard to unproven political refugees. Here in Ireland,
and I think its the same in the UK, they are treated much the
same a citizens.Well, I'm not sure I could make a good argument for trusting 'citizens' not to be bad guys. I remember getting targetted twice by bombs back in the 80's. By persons that were certainly 'citizens' - and definitely past tense; they didn't get second chances. The idea that simply because you are born somewhere, or are naturalised to some legal citizenship status, that you are therefore more trustworthy doesn't seem sensible.
If there are supposed to be security checks then they should be the same for anyone regardless of national origin, racial background, political affiliation, religious leanings - and if circumstances mean you can't get good answers then it should be a case of "sorry Mr/Mrs/Miss X, without positive information we are not able to employ you". Certainly that might result in a few decent people not getting the job but if one wants a proper security system it is better to be careful. Of course, almost all the so called security measures in place at airports around the world are nothing to do with anything other than 'security theatre'.
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yep, 'security theatre', that about describes things for the most part.
When I visited the US a couple years ago I was electronically finger
printed. There was no question of asking if this was okay by me. Just
a matter of please put your index fingers on the pads please!There seems to be no standard way of doing things internationally. If
all airport authorities adopted the same high tech standards I imagine
it would speed things up a lot.One thing that I often wonder about is the lack of security on what
people bring into airports. It is quite possible bring in a case with
just about anything in it. Surely the proper place for luggage scanning
is at the entry doors to the airport. Getting a bomb on-board a jet
is capable of killing 2-300 people. Getting a bomb into a busy airport
check-in area could be capable of killing many more people!Recently while at Malaga Airport in the SNN check-in line a noticed a
guy leaving a large case beside some seats while me took a walk! I was
a little nervous as he as walking away and called to him. I simply asked
if he wouldn't mind taking his case with him. He laughed at me and advised
that he was going to the toilet. He was and returned after 5 minutes!
I was looking at the nearest column and wondering if I should ease my may
towards it and stand on the other side, I didn't
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