£4bn radio system for police that won’t work on the Tube
A VITAL £ 4billion radio system for police and emergency services will not work on the London Underground, a report warns today.
Twelve years after rescue efforts in the 2005 terror attacks were hampered by poor communications, the new system will currently not function on the Tube.
It means the Emergency Services Network (ESN) could be at risk of call blackouts as police, fire and ambulance crews respond to emergencies in London.
The Commons’ public accounts committee said lives would be put in jeopardy during the introduction of ESN, which is due to cost the taxpayer £3.8billion between now and 2032. It emerged that taking the current radio system – known as Airwave – out of service might leave a six-month gap in coverage.
MPs said the Home Office had ‘not yet finalised’ how the replacement, run by phone firm EE, would work on the Tube, and said this posed a ‘significant and imminent risk’.
The cross-party panel said the need for 999 crews to communicate was an essential part of keeping the public safe. Meg Hillier, Labour chairman of the committee, said: ‘The potential consequences of a six-month gap in emergency service communications are unthinkable.
‘The Government needs to tackle this now or the result will be quite simply a tragedy in waiting.’
The report added: ‘The news that part of the Airwave system will be taken out of service early strikes a major, potentially catastrophic blow to the ability of our emergency services to carry out their job.’ MPs are concerned that ENS, which will be used by the 105 police, fire and ambulance services in the UK, may not meet security needs.
The timetable for transition runs to September 2020. But from March 2020 mobile phone giant Vodafone will stop providing an important piece of infrastructure that Airwave requires to function – effectively turning the system off.
This raises the possibility that emergency services may not be able to communicate with each other during the six-month period.
Delays in introducing the new system is already set to cost taxpayers £475million a year, the report says.
Critics warned that after the 2005 bombings, mobile services in London crashed under the volume of use. But ministers insist 999 crews will have priority over other users on the system and emergency workers will have faster mobile internet.
According to a previous parliamentary report, ESN is due to start coming into service in September.
Lib Dem committee member John Pugh said: ‘This level of oversight by the Government is utterly scandalous. Lives could be put at risk and the UK’s vulnerability to a major terrorist attack increased … taxpayers are being asked to fork out millions of pounds for the privilege.
A Vodafone UK spokesman said it was working to ‘ensure continuation of service if the roll-out of ESN misses its target date’.
Airwave owner Motorola Solutions said: ‘We are working with the Home Office and Vodafone to identify viable technical options to extend the service.’
Home Office minister Brandon Lewis said: ‘We won’t take any risks with public safety and there will be no gap in the emergency services’ communications provision.’
‘Potentially catastrophic’