Liquid turnabout in the UK?

The word just days ago - in the aftermath of a UK terror trial -  was that the liquid carry-on restrictions would be around for years to come. Yesterday the The Independent  suggested something completely different: 

The government is in discussions with security companies and Britain’s airports to lift the ban on liquids being carried in hand luggage as early as next year, The Independent has learnt. 

Technology already deployed at Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 can automatically detect the presence of liquids in carry-on bags. Now, government scientists are running tests to see if the scanners can be adapted to pick out those that are harmful. 

“The technology is there, which will allow these scanners not only to test for liquids but also to determine if those liquids are dangerous or not,” said a security industry source. “At the moment, that technology is being tested by the security services and when they are happy that it works, the ban will be lifted.” 

Update on September 12, 2008 by Frank@OBOW

Don’t expect the US to follow suit even if the UK ever drops the ban. The UK has a small number of airports and might be able to deploy the liquid-capable scanners at all of them. It woud take years and many millions of dollars to put these scanners in all the US airports.

Comments

[Alexandra]

It's about time!! The whole thing is utterly ridiculous...