1,200 MORE TROOPS CALLED UP
Soldiers just back from Afghanistan on standby in Olympics security farce
AN extra 1,200 troops have been put on standby to protect the Olympics as the fallout continues from the G4S fiasco. Defence chiefs yesterday placed the servicemen and women – some recently back from Afghanistan – on 48 hours notice to work as guards at London 2012.
Home Secretary Theresa May and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt begged the Ministry of Defence to provide additional military back-up amid concerns that beleaguered private firm G4S is still struggling to recruit security staff.
The move, a week before the opening ceremony, is a significant embarrassment for the Home Office and organisers Locog.
Around 3,500 soldiers, sailors and airmen had to cancel their holidays last week when the scandal broke as G4S admitted it could not fulfil its £284million taxpayerfunded contract.
That took the number of troops deployed at the Games to 17,000 – almost twice as many as the 9,500 currently in Afghanistan.
Now military commanders have identified extra troops who will mobilise from their barracks at short notice if any further manpower gaps appear.
Mr Hunt said the number of staff provided by G4S was rising. But he added: ‘We hope that deploying more troops will not be necessary but this is a sensible precaution.’
An MoD spokesman said it was a ‘sensible and prudent measure’.
Thousands of uniformed troops have been drafted in to check tickets, carry out bag examinations, undertake body searches and man X-ray machines at venues including the Olympic Park in Stratford, East London.
G4S had signed a contract to provide 10,400 civilian security guards. But the firm has had to revise that total to 7,000 after it failed to train enough guards and many did not turn up for work when scheduled.
Labour leader Ed Miliband called yesterday for G4S to be blocked from getting new Government contracts and indicated he would like to see the company’s boss Nick Buckles fired after the Paralympics have finished. ‘Clearly the company will have serious questions to answer about new leadership after the Olympic Games,’ he said.
Mr Miliband said it ‘beggared belief’ that G4S was trying to cling on to a £57million management fee for Olympics security.
He added: ‘Before they are awarded any new policing contracts, we need a review of G4S’s ability to deliver.’
It emerged last night that Mrs May had admitted that ministers were warned as early as June 27 that G4S might fail to supply enough Olympic security guards. More than 700 troops were put and standby a day later and then mobilised later that week as the scandal began to unfold.
Her admission appeared to contradict her claims in Parliament as recently as July 11 that the Home Office believed G4S would deliver.
Meanwhile, exhausted troops drafted in to provide emergency Olympics cover were photographed sleeping on chairs as they grabbed some hard-earned rest.
Sailors from HMS Northumberland were ‘getting their heads down’ during a break from security shifts.
Resting on rucksacks and using their jackets for blankets, they were snapped in the venue at Greenwich Park, South-East London. The troops’ accommodation is on HMS Ocean, moored nearby on the Thames.
The picture was posted on Twitter by ‘CombatCameraman’, who wrote alongside the photo: ‘These boys are securing the Olympics for you!’
An MoD spokesman said: ‘The picture of service personnel resting on chairs shows a rest area at the Greenwich Park Olympic venue where service personnel are able to rest during breaks in their shifts. It does not show accommodation.’