Body scanners to be made compulsory

Friday 9th December 2011

Travellers will no longer be allowed to opt out of using body scanners at airports, the Government has anounced.

But in the future machines, rather than security staff, will see the apparent ‘naked’ images of passengers, Transport Secretary Justine Greening said.

Ms Greening also said that she would consider carefully the EC report on the health risks of scanners, amid concerns that the backscatter scanner, which is being trialled at Manchester airport, emits ionising radiation.

Manchester, with Heathrow and Gatwick, has been trialling body scanners following the Christmas Day transatlantic flight incident when a would-be terrorist had an explosive device concealed in his underwear.

In a Parliamentary written statement, Ms Greening said she believed, in principle, that scanners should be rolled out more widely at UK airports.

But she added that the precise timing of future installations of such devices would depend on how quickly the new generation of scanners can be developed.