OT Security at Canary Wharf

[ARWadsworth]

I went there yesterday and all cars entering are subject to a security check. The nice guy asked if he could do a search of my car but then just went around and wiped something on the 4 door handles and the boot handle.

Was this some sort of swab to test for drugs or explosives?

He never bothered to look in the boot but the car in front that had been stopped had a full search of it's boot.

PS They must have money to burn in Canary Wharf. My job was to terminate a 4 core 4mm SWA at the dis board (the cable was already there and terminated at the other end) and then install 2 patch leads between the electric door curtain and the controllers ie 2 x 2 m patch leads. The mind boggles as to why I had to go and do that.

[Jethro]

Does rather beg the question what would he do if there *were* traces of explosives ... presumably they are selected to be good runners ?

It's all to impress the proles. A few years back, a colleague came into work severely impressed he had been stopped in a line of cars, and the police had gone round with a mirror on a stick. I innocently asked how much road space they had reserved, and when he replied that the car being inspected was just a couple of feet in front of the car behind, the penny dropped ...

Remember the tank that Blair got to drive round Heathrow for the cameras ?

[Clive George]

Must be explosives - don't the occupants of Canary Wharf run on coke, making testing for that a bit too likely to catch the wrong people? :-)

[ARWadsworth]

But still handy to go onto a database if some bloke from South Yorkshire keeps visiting with coke all over the handles.

[ARWadsworth]

Having not being on a commercial plane for over 25 years I had no idea!

[Huge]

Yes.

[Andy Burns]

Lucky they didn't use a Woods Lamp to screen for blood or "Gentleman's Relish" :-)

[The Medway Handyman]

Both I believe. They do it all the time at the ferry ports & tunnel.

[Steve Firth]

Haven't you learned how to open the bottle without spraying Coke all over the inside of your van?

[Andrew Gabriel]

My laptop got swabed at Los Angeles airport some years back, and the swab pushed into what I assume was a mass spectrometer. About 30 seconds later, it let off a siren. I must have looked rather alarmed, so she said "don't worry, that means it passed OK". Made me wonder what it does if it picks something nasty up.

[D.M.Chapman]

If it's anything like the one at Gatwick, suddenly lots of people turn up and request you follow them :-/

My shoes had triggered the alarm (this was around the shoe bomber incident IIRC).

First question was "How long have you had these boots?"

My answer of "about 3 hours, I bought them on the way to the airport as by old ones started leaking" didn't seem to convince them...

I ended up standing in a "secure area" wearing slightly damp socks while they scraped and poked at the boots. Thing that finally convinced them I was safe was when I found the receipt in my pocket.

Darren

[geoff]

In message , ARWadsworth writes

Id you ask him where you could dump the body, anyway?

[grimly4]

I thought the cokeworks was shut down years ago.

[Brian Gaff]

I thought they called those dogs? Must have a very small dog to fit in those machines... grin.

Brian

[Davey]

A few years ago, I lived near Detroit, but worked in Canada, so I crossed the border between the US and Canada daily. Usually, there was a queue to get back into the US in the evening, but one day, they just shut everything down. Then one Customs/Immigration/DEA official carried a small scanner-like thing and went to the rear of every black SUV in the collection of vehicles waiting there, probably about 15 or so out of maybe a couple of hundred cars. He found nothing, and then the gates were opened, and normal service resumed. There must have been a tip-off, that didn't work out.

[Derek Geldard]

I thought you were referring to Arthur Scargill.

Derek G

[Steve Firth]

[snip]

Hmm, should have been a nice experience, other than the Kengestion charge.

Modern vehicle electronics and the assumption that all drivers are stupid. I get grumpy with my cars because it's impossible to start them or put them into gear without pressing the brake pedal.

[ARWadsworth]

It was a nice enough car. Just not what I am used to (it had more leather than a fat bird in a bondage outfit).

I now do see why Mums on the school run seem to think that they can just park them where they want when dropping the kids off. It's because they feel invincible in one.

Even worse. I could not get Radio 2.

And a VH Combo van is better for putting step ladders into them than a Discovery:-)

[Tim Streater]

Which reminds me:

1) Why do I have to press the brake pedal on my dizzle C4 before turning the ignition to start the engine? Is this just a safety thing so no 5 year old kid can start it by accident?

2) Dizzle cars. What happened to the glow plug / red button pressing business before trying to start it?

[Steve Firth]

"ARWadsworth" wrote: [snip]

Land Rovers only get Radio 4. they are designed for the middle classes.

Yeh, it's one reason I hang onto a Ford Exploder. The load bed is long enough to get ladders and 8x4 sheets into.