By Hugh Muir
The Guardian
Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
Equipment that allows the emergency services to cope in the event of a terrorist attack is seriously flawed, according to new research.
A week after the terrorist bomb attempts on London and Glasgow airport and on the second anniversary of the 7/7 bombings, a study is expected to question the efficiency of the £3bn Airwave communication system commissioned by the Home Office, which should allow all the different emergency services to communicate with each other.
The system has been controversial because its implementation has been delayed. Communication was identified as a key failing during the reaction to the 7/7 attacks, when terrorists killed 52 people in London. The emergency services lost radio contact with each other underground and doctors were unsure which hospitals to send casualties to.
Full Story: £3bn emergency service radios ‘seriously flawed’