What a farce.....
 

It's not just the G4S bouncers who haven't been trained, it seems:

London 2012 Olympics: American and Australian team buses get lost from Heathrow to Olympic Park - Telegraph

Untrained bus drivers roaming London unable to find their destinations, despite their Zil lanes. Chaos on the M4 due to an accident and the knock-on effect of the dictatorial Zil lanes..... At one stage there was a 32 mile tailback today...:eek:

Quite a few stories of lost athletes' luggage at Thiefrow as well....:uhoh:

What a farce your self-indulgent orgy of jockstrappery is fast becoming, eh Coe?

BEagle

If what occurred in Sydney is anything to go by, Coe and the Government will still get the "best games ever" tag and then within 7 days anyone in a senior position of LOCOG and maybe the Government will vanish into thin air, quietly picking up a gong or two along the way so as not to annoy the masses who hopefully made it all work.


In the article above, nice to see someone is using a bit of common sense insead of driving around lost for 3 hours.
"The driver said: "Sorry about this." He then got out a map, before performing a U-turn and quickly getting back on the correct route."

Senior copper from Manchester on the PM programme on R4 explaining how he's had to step in and top up G4's security shortfall at a hotel by providing 28 pcs and 4 sergeants at an extra cost of £30,000 a day.

Now if he means 32 coppers on duty 24 hours a day that means, say c100 coppers, but he didnt say that.

So where does he get a figure of £30k a day - that's not far shy of £1k/per day/per plod? Now I know the police are overpaid, but a grand a day?

£1k per day (especially if the full 24hrs) is not massively OTT in my experience. There are plenty pf consultants out there pulling in anywhere between £700-£1500 for their services (IT, Project Management, Security, etc...).

The trick about contract rates is making your employment seamless and then you're into mega-wonga; sadly for most, it is 1 week here, 2 weeks there, a month here and a month there, intersperced with 1-2 weeks between contracts...

LJ

The Venue Senior Military Reps are OF-4s (Cdr, Lt Col, Wg Cdr) and the ones I know are most definately not volunteers! I know of at least one who had less than 3 days of POTL having just been for a 6 month stint in the sand-pit. There are also OF-5s and 1-stars burning the midnight oil in LONDIST and the other Front Line Comds. Yes, the majority are Other Ranks being dicked with X-Ray, Vehicle and Personnel search duties, but there are still significant numbers of "Zobs" taking one for the team as well...:ok:

LJ

Police Overtime Rates
 

Tankertrashnav

The figures quoted do not go to plod..Its called a `Special Services` charge. Such rates are set annually by the Police Authority and when Police Services are required in these circs, Officers are supplied, in this case to G4S, at this rate. A good slice of the wedge received goes straight into the Police Authority funds. Hope this clears it up..

I wonder if they'll have us laid out like these guys at the Munich Olympics in 1936...?

http://www.arrse.co.uk/attachment.ph...8&d=1342175547

:}

Now that's discipline, they've buried whole squads up to their helmet, and they've still kept perfect formation. I hate to imagine what terrible offence they've committed on the drill square to deserve this punishment though :E

I wonder how many of those helmets one could "hoof" until getting a good shoeing from those black shirts - it'd be worth it, though! :ok:

Applied for G4S olympic staff in April, to work security, day shifts preferably, at a regional site that is a 30 minute drive from my home. I thought I'd 'do my bit', as I had some time spare.

Selected for the venue and position in April. The ensuing vetting procedures over the next 3 months were intermittent and chaotic; occasional emails, random mobile phone calls; ("we need written proof of your last seven years tax payments." I was on hold to HMRC for 2 hours to get that. It was then never asked for!) etc, etc.

On the other hand, the security training (when it arrived), given by training companies contracted to G4S, was always professional and good quality.

....I've just been allocated 17 shifts in the next 19 days; not at my regional site but in London and every single one a 1900- 0700 night shift!

I'm hoping to be far enough away from the sports day to avoid any traffic hassle. I'm not sure that Barnstaple will be quite far enough on the day of the opening ceremony though.


Tell them where to shove their shift then...

Yup, tell them where to shove it where the sun don't shine, because it won't be shining on you at 4 in the morning... Are they accommodating you?

In fact don't tell them, just do not turn up as that is not what you signed up for.

There are at least 4 reports in the media where less than a quarter of staff have turned up. Given Bertie's tale, I think we can say why.

Stay home and watch it on the box Bertie.

I've spent the last 3 days phoning the various G4S 'help lines' and being promised the 'Scheduling Dept' has been informed and will allocate me shifts at the regional site!

Somehow I don't think their 'system' will cope with this.

PS. Many more in my situation, according to the call centres.

Also many with all the ticks (accreditation, training, licence, id card, uniform) but no shifts allocated! Apparently some of these are simply turning up at venues and reporting to the duty security manager in order to get 'in the system'

G4S facebook page 'Securing London' full of tales of cock ups.

I'm giving it one more more day to get shifts at the venue I applied for. After that, I'm sorry to say, I'll be one of those 'selfish recruits' who failed to turn up for work.

iRaven - is it just me or are some of them wearing Flt Lt rank on their sleeve ?;)

Forgive me, but I just have to post this link. I'm still snorting red wine as a consequence;)

NewBiscuit : ENTIRE OLYMPIC VILLAGE STOLEN IN LATEST SECURITY BREACH « Forum

Fox

Were some Scousers in Brighton over weekend talking about heading back with some souvenirs from Down South....................Fcuk I though they were kidding.

Iraven

If rain keeps up you will see similar headgear in London, only this time heads with be Coppers underneath and using their heads as stepping stones perhaps.

Fox

That is gold :ok::O:D

A slightly different perspective....
 

I know we all feel bad for everyone involved, from the worst case of people losing holidays or PODL to the guys just facing some extra time in a horrible transit block in London.

However, I've noticed some people on other forums I frequent saying how glad they are that G4S have screwed up; because they'd much, much rather have the military acting as security than whatever dross G4S can dredge up with a terrible contract!

It's ridiculous, and in some situations it's totally disgraceful that the armed forces are doing this. But as a silver lining, from what I see, the public will be extremely glad to see someone in MTP acting as security rather than someone in a G4S uniform.

Well done to everyone doing their bit.

I just received a call from G4S this afternoon requesting I email them scans of a couple of my military documents to show proof I'd been in for that period. They said they would send a blank email to me so I could send said documents. No email yet, so called them on the phone, fifteen minutes waiting to get the email address.

Of course my scanner would be U/S at the minute, so a trip to the library, where I found that my library card was out of date. Thankfully it wasn't G4S that issued me a new one.

Just to rub salt into the wound, I got an email from my unit requesting more personnel this afternoon. When several people from my unit have been mobilised for this, I don't think so. Either mobilise me or get stuffed. It makes a big difference to the money, ie mobilisation bounty, 14% rather than 5% x factor on the wages, leave etc. I'm not sweating my bollocks off for less money than someone else doing the same job.

I disagree. I would rather see less security. The fact that we feel we need to hold QRA at a nearby airfield, have GBAD on tower blocks, and have airport-style security (complete with queues, 100ml liquids restriction so you have to buy your drinks at the sponsors' concessions inside, and the whole take-your-belt-off rigmarole) tells me something is wrong with our attitude to risk. In days gone by, even in the IRA era, this would have been done with some old-fashioned common-sense policing, some intelligence-led behind-the-scenes work and a bit of un-PC "profiling" of likely offenders (all of which, by the way, has worked very well for El Al over the years).

All this is a sign that our security policy is failing - the point of our overseas expeditions was supposed to be making us more secure at home, not needing to go through a full search to get into a sports event... so I would rather see some police, a small number of contractors, but no forces personnel on duty. In any case the Olympics is a crap target for a terrorist outrage - with so many nationalities around, the terrorists risk pissing off a random selection of countries, some of whom might actually be their friends. Only targeted Munich-style outrages would avoid that risk - and we haven't needed metal detectors at the Games for the last 40 years to prevent a repeat.

Nothing to do with G4S, but I've just seen a picture of a soldier in London wearing camouflage uniform with a high visibility jacket over the top. Someone hasn't thought that through either!

Am sure the publics relief at having military security will seem like a "silver lining" to the troops who just had their summer ruined!!!
You can have as much security as you like but you can almost guarantee there will be an attack in London, safer Country my arse!

Jayand is correct. There's no point in trying to sweat yourself through a search facility into an Olympic venue when, to the rest of the world, "London" is the Olympics.

There's a completely unprotected massive shopping centre, with huge crowds, just a few steps from the main arena...............................................

Or Piccadilly Circus.......its all "London" and "London" IS the "the Olympics", as far as the 4 billion world audience is concerned.

Did anyone else watch that pathetic individual called Nick 'Bungle' Buckles at the select committee meeting yesterday? How on earth does someone so patently ignorant and out of his depth, get to a position of Chief Executive in a company like G4S?

It says it all really. When you have a fool like that running the show, it was (and is) always going to be a disaster. God help us! And what was it he said about 'plain English'? He didn't know if the meeting he had been attending was in Plain English?? I despair.

Further respect for all our Armed Forces. Well done to you all.
Winco

Hey Bungle, take a look at how the British Military do it. Learn from it and then $od off somewhere, anywhere away from these shores. You're not fit for purpose.

There is also the problem now of hundreds of disenfranchised youngsters, who had been 100% relying on this course of work, armed with G4S uniform and LOCOG access passes but no work............and from the comments on various internet forums some of them are mighty p*ssed off..............................

Another problem seems to be an up to 50% "No Show" rate, caused either by G4S not sending emails to people telling them where to report and when or people can't be bothered to turn up. This gives police/military a very short notice problem. Big fails at the US team hotel in Birmingham and at a cycle race at Box Hill

Things are clearly getting desperate - reports in the press of the military planning to deploy soldiers straight from 26 weeks of basic training to Olympic duties. My guess is that they'd normally go on leave at that point? Hey ho.

Re all those who have been recruited and failed to turn up. Many of them will have been recruited from the ranks of the unemployed, and I hope G4S lets the dole office know so that their benefits can be stopped.

Well I hope someone now realises how short the Services are having to send new recruits because the manpower no longer exists, top that off with the future cull of 20,000 and you then realise that we do not even have those available to cover a sporting event, let alone a tanker strike anymore.... And yet the Government still think we will be able to man the pumps with 20k less folks than they have now..

Lefty, that's a bit harsh.

Imagine thinking that you are going to be working for a wee while. Then G4S fail to tell you where to report

So you don't earn any money, and now someone wants the DSS to stop your benefits because you didn't go to the job that didn't want you there.

More of the Navy to be called up. The Olympic bigwigs in the Park Lane hotels are complaining about a shortage of male escorts......

From what I have read the vast majority who want to work for G4S are not on benefits. They are students or the recently graduated, the semi-retired/retired and others who are between jobs but not formally job-seeking.

More RAF to go!!
 

Up to 500 personnel to go from RAF Cosford:*.... in addition to those d**ked already.

Not an unusual sight. There isnt a special uniform for a soldier to change into, out of MTP, when required to wear a hi vis jacket.

Seen on a well known Auction site :E Someone is quick off the mark

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/GROUP-4-SECUR...D4Vw~~60_3.JPG

nutters - like it.
can't wait to see what the boys come up with, I expect a few unofficial ones will find their way out there.

Everyone I met during this voyage into lunacy, who had been previously unemployed, had signed off before attending training. (as the training days would be paid days.....but paid only when at least 5 shifts had been completed)

But if no one contacts you after your training or you are "Number 96 in the queue" on a call to the call centre that's costing you money by the minute

Yes it is !!!!! for the guys dragged in off leave but there are 1000's out there who had put their lives on hold (and off the dole) since Feb/March waiting for non existant emails and phone calls. This debacle is entirely the fault of G4S management. But of course it will be the dick at the end of the stick that gets the blame.

At least for some it gave the chance to get on the Team:

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i9..._IntheTeam.jpg