THE Government is lining up civil servants, staff from embassies abroad and Hampshire-based services giant Serco to replace immigration officials at ports and airports who will join the national strike.
Private engineers are also reportedly being trained to detect “dirty bombs” and radioactive material at four major points of entry into the UK. A spokesman for Southampton Airport said: “We are working on contingency plans with the UK Border Agency but expect disruption at Southampton Airport to be minimal on international flights and no impact on domestic flights.”
On Wednesday, international flights are scheduled to Alicante, Amsterdam, Avignon, Brussels, Dublin, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hanover, Limoges and Paris. Domestic flights will go to Aberdeen, Alderney, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle.
DP World, which runs the container terminal at Southampton docks, said it anticipated minimal disruption.
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