WEST MIDLANDS MEP SLAMS 'CRAZY' AIRPORT SAFETY RULES

4.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Fri 3rd Jun 2005

A West Midlands Euro-MP has hit out at 'crazy regulations' that prohibit the carriage of tweezers but allow large glass bottles to be carried as hand luggage on aeroplanes.

Items that could be used as dangerous weapons are supposed to be prohibited from being taken onto planes as hand luggage, yet no restrictions are imposed on passengers taking litre-size glass bottles of wines and spirits onboard.

Airport shops encourage holidaymakers to buy generous quotas of wine and spirits and take them into the flight cabin as hand luggage.

Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne is concerned that bottles could be broken and used as weapons to threaten cabin crew and other passengers. She claims that airport managers are putting profits before safety.

She said: "A bottle of vodka or gin could too easily be turned into a lethal weapon. Rules to ensure that dangerous objects are not taken aboard planes should be respected but in this instance it seems that money talks."

Aviation security is governed by international rules laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Under this each country is responsible for the security of aircraft flying from its state.

After the 11 September terrorist attack, Transec, the government office responsible for transport security, issued legally binding measures to prohibit certain items from being carried in hand luggage.

Items that may pose a threat to the security of the aircraft include knifes with blades of any length, snooker cues and scissors may only be carried in the hold of the plane.

The measures also ban any other article that the airport manager or airline operator reasonably thinks might be used or adapted for use to cause injury, but this has not been interpreted to include glass bottles.

These rules were relaxed last month to allow knitting needles and nail scissors, but tweezers and nail files can only be carried at the discretion of airport security staff.

Liz Lynne added:

"It will seem ridiculous to many that airport security can still decide to ban tweezers yet a litre bottle of vodka is deemed to be safe even in the wrong hands."