- Ryan Kisiel posed as unemployed man seeking work as a security guard
- Some of the other applicants could hardly read or write English
By Ryan Kisiel
|
Daily Mail undercover reporter Ryan Kisiel G4S security services training centre in east London
Such is the desperation of G4S bosses to fill security places that when I walked into their Olympic base I was signed up to a training course within 90 seconds.
Once inside, utter confusion reigned in the makeshift centre in the shadow of the Olympic Park.
I had arrived shortly before 9am on Thursday posing as an unemployed man seeking work as a security guard.
With no checks or questions, I was whisked into a large lecture hall with 130 other people and a woman demanding to see my passport. ?Passport, name, date of birth,? she barked.
I handed it over. I was now officially signed up to complete a course to become a security guard.
Teams of women were frantically stuffing envelopes and desperately shouting just to get the huge herd of people processed without any attempt to check if they were meant to be there.
In what is supposed to be the most secure Olympics in history, I had managed to simply waltz in and register to be one of those given the huge responsibility of helping guard it. I could have been a terrorist or a convicted criminal.
While later detailed investigations may have exposed my true identity, with the rush to approve the thousands of security applications in just days, it is possible I could have slipped through the net.
During my day?s training I witnessed the absolute administrative chaos and the poor calibre of candidates who could hardly fill out basic forms, let alone stay awake during the day.
The hall in the University of East London was filled with lots of people in their late teens and early twenties who had been largely signed up straight from college and Jobcentres.
These would make up the bulk of ?perimeter security?, with the crucial job of guarding entrances, exits and borders of the events, making sure nothing was smuggled in.
The trainer who ran the course warned us not to fall asleep as we were ?getting paid to attend?.
Staggeringly, five people did doze off and had to be abruptly woken up; someone the previous week was caught doing his college homework.
It took the class around an hour to fill out the basic Security Industry Authority application form that asked only for name, age and address. It was made easier as the supervisor filled it out on a big screen with us line by line.
Two men on last week?s course had to leave after admitting they were awaiting criminal trials; others were removed after declaring past convictions.
?
One man, originally from East Africa, could hardly read or write English and had to be helped to fill out his form personally, but still managed to write his date of birth down so it made him six months old.
Three boys aged 18 from the local sixth-form college slumped in the back row and were continually told off for not taking their baseball caps off and for spitting in the street outside during ?smoke breaks?.
Unqualified: Most of the applicants appeared to be people in their late teens and early twenties who had been signed up straight from college and Jobcentres
Training? The door supervisors' handbook given reporter Ryan. Some of the applicants couldn't read or write English
Yesterday, I arrived at 7.30am to fill out the last admin documents and produce utility bills to prove my address and was allowed straight in.
Eight people were later thrown off the course ? seven for arriving more than an hour late and one who had ?altered? something on his passport overnight before handing it in.
In an attempt to get people ?switched on?, the class was told that some security staff had already been sacked ? including one for committing a vile act in the aquatic centre.
During the day, my name was read out from the list to complete the course?s 40-minute multiple choice exam. I asked a manager what the test was like.
He quipped: ?If you don?t pass it you?re a remedial as the questions are like: Is a security operator a) someone who carries out security duties at a licensed premises, b) a milkman or c) a pilot.?
I wished he was wrong ? there were people on our course repeating it after failing the exam the week before.
Falling short: G4S admitted it could not supply the 10,000 guards it promised to deliver
?
golden girls robert e lee dez bryant aaliyah golden globe winners the express zappos hacked
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.