Airport staff not fully vetted

(08 May 2008)

Workers employed airside at UK airports do not undergo complete criminal checks, the BBC has revealed.

Since 2003, staff have been checked against UK criminal records, but offences abroad are not covered.

The government says it would take too long and be too complex to check criminal records from abroad.

Any action to close this loophole is unlikely to be immediate. The Department of Transport says it will wait for the outcome of a transport inquiry, and that is not expected until this summer.