Slightly off topic, but on Sky news the other night when talking about snow clearance at LHR, I'm sure it was mentioned that there were 150 contractors brought in to help clear the runway.
Do all these contractors hava an airside security clearance, I wonder? Or maybe when it suits the powers that be, it can all be glossed over.
Unless the rules have changed, they get a temp airside pass which means they are accompanied by someone, who has been vetted, at all times. A simple solution as the time taken to go through criminal records checks would mean the snow would be gone by the time the "vetting" had been completed.
Of course, these contractors could always be on standby so will have had the vetting done and will have a full airside pass anyway.
That's how it used to work at LHR, I guessing it ain't changed much since I was there.
Edit: Or another reason like the one posted above saying they were already cleared since they were working on T2