FILE/UK: OLYMPICS: Security and transport posing biggest challenges to London Olympic Games

Record ID: 332605

  • Title: FILE/UK: OLYMPICS: Security and transport posing biggest challenges to London Olympic Games
  • Date: 27th June 2012
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UK (RECENT) (REUTERS) OLYMPIC RINGS AT HEATHROW AIRPORT TERMINAL FIVE ARRIVALS
  • Embargoed: 12th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: United Kingdom
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Crime,Sports,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVA6DZRZEXJ3TVRPY2OBN4LTT9Y9
  • Story Text: Policing the Olympic Games will be Britain's biggest ever peacetime security operation and one of the biggest challenges for London 2012 organisers.
    The army, navy, air force, police and private and volunteer security guards are all being used to secure the Games and try to stop any potential attacks.
    Britain's biggest warship, helicopter carrier HMS Ocean will be moored at Greenwich, close to the Olympic Park, during the summer.
    It will act as a platform for air security operations, maritime manoeuvres and be home to some 500 troops who will be on 24/7 active duty during the Games.
    In a show of force, Britain's military will have on show around the capital ground-to-air missiles.
    Rapier radar and missiles and High Velocity Missiles (HVM) will be on Blackheath, with the business district of Canary Wharf visible in the background. There are five other sites where missiles will be placed around London to protect the Olympic Park in the summer.
    Observers with hi-tech heat seeking equipment and specialist binoculars will surround Greater London looking for unusual air activity.
    During the Games time air space will be prohibited in central London and restricted in Greater London.
    Typhoon jets will patrol the skies to deflect any planes which mistakenly stray into restricted space.
    The military is at pains to stress that the missiles operation would only be launched in case of extreme threat, such as a 9/11 type scenario.
    One of the locations the High Velocity Missiles may be placed is on the tower of an upscale apartment development near the Olympic Park.
    It is the first time such missiles have been deployed in London since the end of World War Two, shocking some residents at the Bow Quarter housing development, sited in a converted red-brick Victorian match factory.
    On the south coast of England, near the sailing venue of Portland and Weymouth, HMS Bulwark will be stationed, to help secure sailing and windsurfing events.
    The Olympic Park in Stratford, has been closed to the public since May 31. Police divers have been keeping a close eye on the network of waterways which criss-cross the east London site.
    The government is at pains to stress that security will be tight and officials vigilant during the Games, but that it will not detract from people's enjoyment of the spectacle. It added that security will be no more obtrusive than at other Olympics.
    The Home Office has had to hire an extra 500 people to man immigration desks at Border Control at Heathrow airport.
    Games organisers are vowing the problems of lengthy immigration queues over recent months are in the past.
    The incredibly busy hub of Heathrow already operates at 99.2 percent capacity and has to put in place a range of new procedures, and even a pop-up temporary terminal, to cope with all the extra passengers.
    Another major challenge for Games organisers is how to move millions of extra visitors around London using the capital's creaking aged public transport network.
    They must also appease bus and rail workers, some of whom have taken industrial action over Olympics bonus pay.
    Last week (June 15) 85 percent of London's bus drivers walked out on a 24-hour strike. They want a 500 pound payment to compensate them for working during the Games. Various train drivers have been offered between 500 and 900 pounds in bonus payments.
    It was the first time bus drivers have been on strike city-wide in 30 years.
    Union leaders are not ruling out striking during the Olympics if their demands are not met.
    Upgrade work is still being carried out on the tube, in frantic efforts to get it ready for the Games.
    The Olympic Route Network (ORN), introduced after some athletes failed to arrive for their events in Atlanta 1996, is shaping up as one of the biggest irritants to Londoners who already have to endure long delays on the capital's narrow streets.
    Londoners have also been warned they face queues of up to 30 minutes on the underground rail network at certain "hotspots" during peak times.
    About 82,000 athletes, officials, media, sponsors and VIPs, will use the 109-mile ORN, which will also be open to general traffic except in certain areas. A third of the network will be made up of the more restrictive Games Lanes with fines for those who breach the painted lines.
    Many taxi drivers are threatening to go on holiday during the Games, fearing gridlock on the streets.
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