Nick Hopkins and Owen Gibson
Guardian
July 11, 2012
The military has been asked to provide up to 3,500 extra troops to guard the London Olympics, amid concerns that private security firm G4S will be unable to deliver the number of staff it promised.
Ministers have been forced into the last-ditch move only a fortnight before the Games because they are concerned that G4S cannot guarantee it will be able to supply the 13,700 guards it was contracted to deliver.
(…) “This has been an accident waiting to happen. The Home Office has waited to make a decision on this because G4S has been saying it is all in hand. But we’ve run out of time.”
“The army will provide an insurance policy,” said a Whitehall source. The armed forces are already providing up to 13,500 personnel for the Games – split between the venues and back-up for police. Under the contingency plans, this could reach 16,500 – 7,000 more than are being deployed in Afghanistan.
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