Security blitz at Chunnel
Page 8
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• Details are emerging of the hi-tech security checks which truck drivers will face at the Channel Tunnel.
Eurotunnel has hired an American defence contractor to build two fortified concrete bunkers at each terminal. They will be packed with X-ray and other scanning equipment and truck drivers who are checked will have to leave their vehicles and watch them being driven through the bunker.
Science Applications of California is providing the buildings at the termini in Folkestone and near Calais. They will scan vehicles for items such as drugs and bombs, rather like the much smaller facilities used at airports to deter terrorists.
Another company, Building Design Partnership, has been asked to make the buildings look less forbidding. A planning application is being submitted to the local council now and Science Applications wants to start work on the site in April. Eurotunnel will not say how many trucks will be searched or how long delays could be: We do not discuss security," says freight manager John Chapman.
The Freight Transport Association believes that up to 20% of trucks could be scanned for bombs, and head of external affairs John Guttridge predicts that transport operators will accept reasonable delays caused by security.
"It's a bit like your suitcase disappearing at the airport," says Guttridge, "It's a bit of a pain, but one which you have to put up with."