PM Gordon Brown unveiled a package of security measures in Parliament on Wednesday that included passengers at Britain’s largest railway stations.
PM Brown is taking all possible steps to avoid a repeat of terror attacks like the one in Glasgow
LONDON: Until now stringent security measures in the UK had been restricted to air travel with time consuming searches and baggage screenings making flying an arduous process. But now rail passengers are to be subjected to the same.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown unveiled a package of security measures in Parliament on Wednesday that included passengers at Britain’s largest railway stations facing body searches and their bags being screened.
The new measures will also have concrete anti-car bomb barriers and vehicle exclusion zones outside airport terminals, shopping centres and 250 of the busiest rail stations in the country. This is to prevent a repeat of this summer’s terror attack at Glasgow when a burning jeep was rammed into the airport.
The new guidance is also to be sent to thousands of cinemas, theatres, restaurants, hotels, sporting venues, hospitals, schools and places of worship advising them to train staff to be more vigilant and to carry out searches and practise evacuation drills.
The measures follow a review by Brown’s security adviser Lord West on how best to protect crowded places. The review is not being published to avoid alerting terrorists to any weak spots.
Interestingly, the new measures came on the same day as the announcement that baggage restrictions on air travel would be progressively lifted from January next year.
Ever since the alleged ‘airline terror plot’ of August 2006 flights out of the UK had limited hand luggage to only one small bag. The Department of Transport hopes to ease this ban on quantity.
However size restrictions on liquids and cabin baggage passengers can take on to the flight will remain in force.
Brown announced that a renewed drive to tackle the spread of extremism with a bid to win ‘hearts and mind’ would also be made.
The Home Office would spend £240 million on policing that focuses on “preventing the next generation from pursuing current targets”.
Pakistan was named as one of the main places from where British Muslims are bombarded with extremist propaganda.
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