OFFENCES RELATING TO SECURITY AT AERODROMES ETC. 1982 C. 36 (Hansard, 19 July 1990)

§ Mr. Tony Banks (Newham, North-West)
Since Lords amendment No. 5 relates to clause 5, as well as to identity documents and security, may I raise with the Minister a case that throws a little light on the clause. It is an important issue. It relates to security arrangements at Gatwick airport and to statements in connection with identity documents, as set out in clause 5.
The case is that of a constituent who has asked his Member of Parliament to draw the matter to the attention of the House. The constituent is me and I am my own Member of Parliament, so I know something about the case. It is not often that one has the opportunity to raise a case in such a direct way. However, it may help to amplify some of the issues raised in the amendments.
I shall not bore the House with the details, but I am sure that many hon. Members have experienced being parted from their luggage when travelling from one country to another. From 1 to 3 July I was on official business in Innsbruck in connection with the Council of Europe. I returned from Innsbruck in the company of two Conservative Members of Parliament. On 3 July we travelled to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Unfortunately, that visit coincided with an air traffic dispute. We were therefore unable to catch our connecting Dan-Air flight No. 986 from Paris to London. We went to the Dan-Air desk where I produced my baggage receipt. The chap on the desk was very helpful. He said that since we needed to get back here to vote we should travel to London by other means. Therefore, we decided that the best method of travel would be by train and ferry. He took details of my baggage receipt number and said that he would be more than happy to ensure that my case was handed on to me at the House of Commons. There were two labels on my bag. One said, "Tony Banks MP" and the other had my name and home address on it. There was no doubt to whom the luggage belonged. We then went on to London. It took us a great deal of time to get here but we made it eventually.
I did not bother about my luggage because I assumed that it would catch up with me eventually. I knew that the dispute would last for a day or so longer. There is a theory that one of the rings of Saturn is made up entirely of lost airline luggage. I can only assume that my luggage has now been added to that collection. I have been waiting for my luggage to be returned from Gatwick airport by Dan-Air authorities. It has not turned up. The manager of the Thomas Cook office in the House has been assiduous in trying to track it down. Some 10 days after I returned, 1217 when I was beginning to become a little concerned about the whereabouts of my luggage, he was told that it had been collected on 10 July. The baggage receipt label had remained in the possession of the Thomas Cook office all that time. Obviously, I had not collected it and I wondered who had. I asked Mrs. Banks whether she had collected it unbeknown to me but she insisted that she had not. I began to get rather worried.
This matter is related to the amendments because someone must have seen the luggage in the baggage handling area, pretended to be me and collected it. I have the details of the person who seems to be most concerned; the managing director of Gatwick Handling, which has handed over my luggage to someone purporting to be Tony Banks, Member of Parliament, without my knowing anything about it. When asked whether the luggage had been signed for, Gatwick Handling said it had not. The manager of the Thomas Cook office here asked on what authority the luggage was handed over. He was told that it had been handed over on authority but not what the authority was. It could not have been the baggage receipt because that has remained at the House of Commons. My luggage has disappeared.
I should like the Minister to make representations on my behalf to Mr. Peter O'Boyle, the managing director of Gatwick Handling, and to Dan-Air to ask what the hell a Member of Parliament has to do to ensure that something is done other than raise the matter with his Member of Parliament, which I have done, and for his Member of Parliament to raise it with the Minister, which I am now doing. This is outrageous. Someone has impersonated me and made off with some of my finest gear. If that is security at Gatwick airport, these amendments are sorely needed.

§ Mr. Peter Snape (West Bromwich, East)
rose—

§ Mr. Deputy Speaker (Mr. Harold Walker)
Order. It is only because so many amendments are linked that I have not yet had the opportunity to find out to which amendment the hon. Gentleman was addressing himself.

§ Mr. Snape
Mr. Deputy Speaker, your customary ingenuity, together with that of my hon. Friend the Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks), will have to be brought into play if I am to comment in any detail on the sad sequence of events outlined so graphically by my hon. Friend. Although the matter is worrying from the point of security, it is difficult to believe that anyone could imitate my hon. Friend. He is one of the best known Members of the House, and it is a surprising breach of security that someone can purport to be Mr. Tony Banks and not be recognised. That is perhaps the most significant aspect of the issue. I hope that the Minister will treat the matter with the seriousness it deserves and that we will be given a proper explanation.
As you have said, Mr. Deputy Speaker, a large number of amendments are linked together, but I shall confine my remarks to amendment No. 41, which says: to take such steps—(i) to ascertain what practices or procedures are being followed in relation to security". I want to deal particularly with the detection of substances such as semtex or, bearing in mind the experience of Dr. Jim Swire, marzipan. The Minister will be aware that the machinery currently being tested at Gatwick airport is primarily the TNA system, which cannot discriminate 1218 between various plastics, some of which contain nitrogen. I understand that there is a problem in distinguishing between wool and explosives.
I have a copy of a letter from Ferranti International to the Secretary of State, which was passed to my hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull, East (Mr. Prescott). Both Ferranti International and my hon. Friend have asked me to raise this matter. I understand from the letter that Ferranti recently invited the Secretary of State to a demonstration in London of some evaluation trials on what is known as the EGIS system.
Both sides of the House will be aware of the importance of the detection of plastic explosives. Ferranti's claims for the EGIS system suggest that it is superior to the TNA system. Did the Secretary of State go to the demonstration, and if so, what are the Department's views about its efficacy, bearing in mind the extensive trials held throughout Europe last year and this year? I will not press the Minister if he does not have the information to hand immediately. I know that he will agree that the detection of such substances is one of the most important aspects of airport security.
I should be grateful if at some stage during the debate he can tell the House whether the Secretary of State, Ministers or civil servants have any experience of the system and whether the claims made by Ferranti have been substantiated by his Department. I hope that we can have the fullest possible details of the Department's intentions on the testing of the machines at Gatwick and our other leading airports. This is the issue upon which hon. Members, both in Committee and on the Floor of the House, have expressed the greatest concern.

§ The Minister for Aviation and Shipping (Mr. Patrick McLoughlin)
I am sorry that the hon. Member for Newham, North-West (Mr. Banks) was not able to make his speech a little earlier, because some of his points would have given the sketch writers some amusing thoughts and ideas. I remember the hon. Gentleman's visit to Paris, because I think that we met each other on the Gatwick express and I gave him a lift back to the House. I can assure him that I do not have his luggage—[Interruption.] I always try to be helpful, as the hon. Member for Kingston upon Hull, East (Mr. Prescott) knows.
I shall look into the points made by the hon. Member for Newham, North-West and I promise—

§ Mr. Tony Banks
That was not the occasion on which the Minister gave me a lift. I came back with two of the Minister's colleagues and we were forced to come back by train and ferry because of the dispute. We never made Gatwick airport.
I have raised this issue in a reasonably light-hearted way, but there are serious implications involved if someone can simply go along and satisfy the authorities that he is a Member of Parliament. It is not about me particularly but it demonstrates that there is something wrong with security at Gatwick.

§ Mr. McLoughlin
I accept that. I shall look into it and take the matter up with the appropriate authorities. I did not realise that the hon. Gentleman went abroad as often as he seems to.
The hon. Member for West Bromwich, East (Mr. Snape) asked about the TNA machine and the Ferranti letter to my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. As he knows, the TNA machine is now in place at Gatwick. We 1219 are looking at the progress that it is making, and we will be monitoring its effectiveness closely to see if it has a proper role to play. I should like to take the opportunity to go through some notes on the Ferranti machine and write to the hon. Gentleman.