The UK government announced on 17 June 2011 that it had placed a partial ban on UPS security staff working at UK airports.
While not detailing specific scenarios that might have caused this to happen, DfT - the Department for Transport - has confirmed that a reverse decision won't be made until UPS Air Cargo has ‘has satisfied current security requirements'.
UPS Air Cargo, in response, has stressed it is "working to address the issues."
"The safety of the travelling public is paramount and our security regime is kept under constant review", a representative for DfT explained. "We can confirm that, following careful consideration, the department has restricted the number of sites in the UK at which UPS Ltd are permitted to screen air cargo until it has satisfied current security requirements.
"For obvious security reasons we will not comment on the details."
Eight months before this new UK cargo security ban, a bomb was discovered inside a UPS Air Cargo aircraft at EMA - East Midlands Airport. The explosive material had been cleared through airport security and was only found after information was disclosed by a third party.
Possibly significantly, the aircraft had earlier arrived from Cologne, and UPS were involved in handling it at that location.
Following this and a similar incident in Dubai, Theresa May - UK Home Secretary - imposed a ban on air cargo between Somalia and the UK, along with other measures.
"As part of a scheduled review by the DfT of UPS procedures and employment documentation related to security, the DfT identified areas of concern that UPS now is working to address", a spokesperson for UPS told the BBC, in reference to the UPS air cargo ban.
"Some facilities have been temporarily taken offline, which in some cases has led to delays in the movement of packages. UPS has activated contingency plans, communicated with customers and expects service levels to return to normal early next week.
"The DfT reviews have been helpful, educating UPS on the expectations of DfT auditors. UPS continues to assess the operation of its UK network and, in co-operation with the DfT, may refine it to ensure an even more efficient level of service to its customers", the spokesperson concluded.
Image copyright Ardfern - courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
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