Civil Aviation head warns that biometric passports will not be enough to counter terrorism at Gatwick Airport

1.40.06pm UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 4th Nov 2005

Biometric passports alone will not be enough to counter terrorism threats

Councillor Gordon Seekings, commenting on the warning from the Head of the International Civil Aviation Organisation biometric working group that biometric passports alone will not be enough to counter terrorism threats, said "Once again an expert has cast further doubts about the reality of the new biometric passports. For the many residents of Crawley who work at Gatwick Airport, or who travel through it on holiday or business, it is only going to lead to a false sense of security."

Liberal Democrats MP, Mark Oaten said "The use of biometric passports must not lead to a false sense of security, and the replacement of more traditional ways of policing the UK's borders."

It has already been highlighted that the new biometrics will have difficulty in identifying people who are balding or who have brown eyes. Gordon Seekings went on to say "When the Head of the International Civil Aviation Organisation says there's going to be a problem then only an idiot - or this Labour government - would chose to ignore it!"