‘The Beast’ fills up at BP station as security team slips into gear
DONALD TRUMP’S heavyweight eight-ton armoured Cadillac certainly lives up to its nickname, The Beast.
So when the £1.2million limousine rolled into a BP petrol station in London this weekend, it was a fittingly conspicuous sign of the US president’s imminent arrival.
Security staff were filling up the heavily guarded car ahead of Mr Trump’s three-day state visit, which kicked off yesterday amid a slick £25million security operation.
The seven-seater boasts armourplated doors which are eight inches thick, the same weight as those on a Boeing 747 jet, and are hermetically sealed. It has its own oxygen supply and even a couple of pints of the president’s blood on board.
The car is equipped with a night-vision camera and reinforced steel plating said to be able to resist bullets, chemical attacks and bombs, featuring an impenetrable electronic “bubble” that can block potentially dangerous mobile phone and other radio signals.
The president, accompanied by his wife, Melania, touched down at Stansted airport in Air Force One, where they were met by Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, marking the start of a trip that has been months in the planning, involving an estimated 1,000man entourage, a motorcade and several helicopters.
An enormous surveillance operation to identify potential security threats is being run jointly by the secret service, Metropolitan Police counter terrorism and firearms teams, along with GCHQ.
From Stansted, the Trumps boarded Marine One, the presidential helicopter, to be transported directly to Buckingham Palace. The helicopter is fitted with communications equipment, antimissile defences and hardened hulls.
Later, Mr Trump travelled in a convoy of nine black cars – some of which contained masked military men – and was greeted by a ripple of boos from the watching crowd as they drove from Westminster Abbey to Clarence House.
The real security test will come today, however, when the Together Against Trump protest takes place in Trafalgar Square. Jeremy Corbyn will be among those to address the crowds.