Strip-searching goes digital

2006-01-11 15:13

London - A high-tech scanner that digitally "strips" travellers on their way to their plane or train will go on trial for four weeks from Thursday at a major London rail station, officials said.

Passengers at Paddington Station in west London will be invited to pass through the scanner before they board the Heathrow Express non-stop train service to the British capital's main airport.

It takes about 80 seconds for the scanner to, in effect, strip-search a fully-clad traveller - with the operator seeing his or her subject virtually naked on a computer screen in an adjoining cabin.

The scanner has been on trial at Heathrow airport for several months, alongside conventional metal detectors and X-ray baggage scanners. Further trials are planned for the London subway and other inter-city rail stations.

Security on public transport has been a major issue since the July 7 attacks on three London subway trains and a double-decker bus which killed 56 people, including four suicide bombers.

- AFP