SUN man Brian Flynn stands on the runway of a major UK airport with a “bomb” — exposing the lax security that could put passengers at risk of a terror attack.
Our reporter — posing as a workman — was able to pose unchallenged with a fake explosive alongside passenger jets and fuel tanks.
Despite the busy international airport being a prime al-Qaeda terror target, no one
CHECKED his identity,
ASKED who he worked for, or
SEARCHED his hired van — which could have been packed with explosives.
It would have been easy to plant a bomb on jets from airlines including British Airways, or blow up an explosive-filled van.
Unchallenged ... Sun man Brian leaves the security station
A worker revealed: “Security at the airport is a joke.
"Armed police patrol the terminal, yet it’s easy to get on the runway and next to planes unchallenged.”
Our devastating expose will stun airport security chiefs at London City Airport — just three miles from the potential terror target of Canary Wharf.
Every year, more than 2.9 million passengers use the airport, which has a VIP terminal for private jets of the rich and famous.
Our reporter and photographer posed as workmen, wearing hard hats and orange jackets bought cheaply from a workwear shop. They hired a white van and attached a magnetic flashing yellow light, bought for £40.
An easily-faked white plastic contractor’s pass carries no name, and has no hologram or barcode to prevent forgery.
Our team approached the airport’s double barrier at 11.05pm.
Joy ride ... pair pass unprotected aircraft unchallenged
During operational hours, all workers are supposed to show photo ID, such as a passport, with every vehicle being searched.
But at night, procedures are relaxed, and only spot checks are carried out.
Our team wrote their names on a signing-in sheet. Staff did not demand ID, ask our men who they worked for, or even what they were there to do.
Staff are supposed to fill in the name of their employer — but our man left the spot blank.
Guards never asked to search inside the Ford Connect van. Instead, our men jumped in their van as the inner barrier was raised with no questions asked — and drove unescorted on to the runway apron.
They passed giant tanks holding aircraft fuel, and then pulled on to the floodlit strip alongside passenger aircraft parked at terminal gates.
Our reporter then got out with a fake bomb, to pose alongside the line of unattended passenger jets.
After 20 minutes wandering around the runway area unchallenged, the pair climbed into the van and drove away. At the security gate, they waved as the barriers were lifted to let them out.
Our investigation was sparked after construction workers revealed the lax security standards.
One builder said many of those working on the site had criminal records for violence and theft — even though they are supposed to undergo checks.
He said: “It is ludicrous how easily someone can get on the runway.
“You could easily walk up to a plane without anyone suspecting anything and put a bomb on it to be detonated when it takes off.
“If a terrorist planted a bomb on a plane and blew it up as it passed over London, the consequences do not bear thinking about.”
Our source told how security staff had lost track of so many passes that they have barely any left.
He said: “Security just wave you through. I once drove on to the runway with a mate in the passenger seat and no one asked who he was.
“It’s incredible that vehicles are not checked when you think how much explosive you could pack into a van and the devastation it could cause at an airport.
“Many of the workers are foreign, so without any checks a terrorist could get in.”
The airport was bought for £700million in 2006 by a US consortium called American International, Credit Suisse and GE Infrastructure.
An airport spokeswoman last night said changes had been implemented after a review of security.
She said: “You should not have been able to get on to the site and approach the aircraft.
"We take security very seriously and have carried out a review as a result of this.”
Fake ... our man's 'bomb'
But the spokeswoman denied our “bomb” could have caused damage.
She said: “It is unlikely that anything left behind would have gone undetected as the airfield and aircraft are swept each morning by airport security and police.
"We don’t believe there was any risk to passengers, staff, crew or the aircraft.”
The security shambles is the latest to be exposed by The Sun.
Reporter Anthony France smuggled a bomb on to a plane at Birmingham International Airport in 2004.
Also in 2004, Defence Editor Tom Newton Dunn smuggled an eight-inch knife on to a BA flight from Kuwait to Heathrow.