It gets worse and worse.

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.guardian.c...-olympic-security-g4s

/// Security guards provided for the Olympics by the firm G4S may not be able to speak English, the company's chief executive has admitted. ///

Well I wonder how much more it's going to cost us to provide interpreters?

For example a Bulgarian border guard may say Добре дошли в Англия , Welcome to England.

[emmie]

massive fine, talking of losing 50 million out of a contract worth 284 million
i think the figure was.

[jno]

that's it, thanks, LazyGun. That appears to be a significant change to the deal G4S originally signed up to. According to the BBC:

"G4S signed the contract with Locog in 2010 to supply 2,000 security staff to work at Olympic venues. In December 2011, the Games organisers asked the company to provide some 8,000 more, bringing the total to approximately 10,000 staff."

Locog might suddenly demand five times as many staff, but it doesn't mean the pool of suitable candidates is suddenly going to quintuple, and the time available for finding them is of course constantly shrinking.

I have no idea why nobody spotted the problems until last week. All the same, I suspect the focus on G4S may be letting Locog off the hook.

[emmie]

it might, so kicked arses all round.

[TOWIE]

I bet those residents in East London with the ground to air missiles placed on the roofs of their block of flats are feeling that bit safer now {:o/

[emmie]

i wouldn't, as i mentioned if a plane is hit, it will scatter debris for miles

[EDDIE51]

I have already posted a thread on this subject
http://www.theanswerb.../Question1151743.html

[jno]

the idea isn't to hit planes, it's to deter them. Even if some suicidal pilot did decide to crash into the stadium, you'd expect him to be detected and neutralised far away from Stratford. London airspace is already tightly patrolled. Long ago - before 9/11 - I was on a helicopter which went off course over the Thames because the pilot accidentally switched his radio off. When he switched it back on again you could hear the sound of the boll*cking above the sound of the rotors...

[aelmpvw]

Olympics ... are they due?

[emmie]

no they decided against it, too much money.

[seadogg]

Hope so jno. I was at Lockerbie and that was bad enough.

[jake-the-peg]

I can't imagine how it's all gone so badly wrong with Jeremy Hunt overseeing it all as minister for the Olympics.

I'm sure his pal Rupert Murdoch would have given him a call and said "I don't want to cause a fuss but there's something you should get sorted out...."

[Brenden]

Terrifies me to even think that we could have some home grown terriorists as security guards - this lot could not organise a p...up in a brewery.Please excuse my language.

[excelsior-1]

in all the news coverage i've seen no-one has asked the security company the simple question:-
"why did you leave it so late to begin recruiting?"

[Ann]

I just cannot believe they gave G4S (or old name Group Four Security) this responsible job - after all that fiasco a few years back when they kept "losing" prisoners, and several escaped when G4S were transferring them between jails. The government have only themselves to blame, they must have such bad memories!
http://www.independen...-inmates-1455465.html

[pdq1]

I can't understand why anyone in their right mind would pay £hundreds or even £thousands just to attend. TV channels on the red button would cover more than any olympic seat. If on top of the expense you are also subjected to a home made bomb being smuggled in it seems pointless.

Even the underground has security personnel and what with the thousands of cameras failed to prevent those bombers what hope is there for your safety. All this security stuff is getting just like the US and I wonder when everyone of importance has to have a bullet proof car.

[emmie]

a once in a lifetime spectacle. Perhaps that's the reason.

[jno]

exactly, em, that's why I'm going.

[emmie]

I am not, but it's more the money aspect than anything.

[jno]

I doubt I'm paying much more than the average Premiership single football ticket price

[ladybirder]

Good to hear somebody from AB is going. Which event/s are you going to jno?