PLANS to fingerprint passengers at Heathrow's new fifth terminal have been challenged by the UK's data protection watchdog, it emerged yesterday.
The Information Commissioner's Office has warned airport operator BAA that the security measure may breach the Data Protection Act.
BAA last night confirmed that it was in negotiations with the commissioner over fingerprinting, but insisted that
there was no prospect of the row delaying Thursday's opening of the terminal.
The plan will affect all domestic passengers using the £4.3 billion terminal, as well as international passengers transferring to internal flights. Prints will be taken when passengers first go through security, and then checked at the gate.
Deputy Information Commissioner David Smith said: "We want to know why Heathrow needs to fingerprint passengers at all. Taking photographs is less intrusive."
In a statement, BAA said: "Fingerprinting was selected as the most robust method by BAA, the Border and Immigration Agency and other government departments.
"The data is encrypted immediately and is destroyed within 24 hours of use, in accordance with the Data Protection Act."
Separately, the Tories claimed yesterday that queues at Britain's airports have been made longer by the government's failure to recruit enough immigration officers to keep pace with soaring passenger numbers.
Damian Green, the party's immigration spokesman, released figures showing that the number of immigration officers at Heathrow and Gatwick had increased by 5.9 per cent since 2001, while passenger throughput has grown by 12.5 per cent.
The full article contains 248 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
