Air passengers who refuse a full body scan to be barred from their flights



Air passengers who refuse to submit to controversial full body scans will be barred from boarding their flights.



The technology - which has been strongly condemned by civil liberties campaigners - began operating at Heathrow and Manchester airports yesterday.



Birmingham will follow suit later this month before the anti-terror devices are rolled out nationally.



Strict: Air passengers who refuse to submit to the advanced imaging technology scans at airports will be barred from boarding their flights



The move - strongly criticised by civil liberties campaigners who say the scanners are an invasion of privacy - follows the attempted Detroit bomb attack on Christmas Day.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to detonate a bomb on a flight as it was about to land in the U.S. city.



Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said: 'In the immediate future, only a small proportion of airline passengers will be selected for scanning.



'If a passenger is selected for scanning and declines, they will not be permitted to fly.'



He said a code of conduct would govern how images were used and which passengers were checked.



Campaigners say the scanners, which act like a mini radar device 'seeing' beneath ordinary clothing, are an invasion of privacy.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission has warned that the scanners breach privacy rules under the Human Rights Act for their naked images.



The exemption of under 18s from being scanned, which was in place during the trial of the machines in Manchester, has also been removed.

The Department for Transport has published an interim code of practice for the scanners. The officer operating the machine never sees the image, and the employee viewing the scan must be in another room.



The scan cannot be saved, printed or transmitted. Passengers can also demand that only officers of their sex see their image.



BAA, which runs Heathrow, refused to comment on how many scanners are in place and in which terminals they will be used, although it is believed they will be in Terminal 4.



While only a small minority of travellers are expected to be asked to undergo the scans, those who decline will not be allowed to board their flight.



Baring all: A Manchester airport employee demonstrates how the scanners work

Body scanners at Manchester airport will be confined initially to terminal 2, where they have been trialled since late last year.

Additional scanners are planned for terminals 1 and 3 by the end of the month.



The airport said that its previous exemption for children had been overturned by the Government.



Head of customer experience Sarah Barrett said passengers had 'privacy concerns', but stressed that the airport had put in 'strict procedures'.



'It will enhance security for everyone, which can only be a good thing, without compromising people's privacy,' she said.



'The image generated by the body scanner cannot be stored or captured, nor can security officers viewing the images recognise people.



'Contrary to reports, the equipment does not allow security staff to see passengers naked.'



But Alex Deane, a barrister and director of campaign group Big Brother Watch, said such measures meant 'the terrorists have won'.



'People are understandably afraid of terrorism,' he said.



'But we didn't allow the IRA to impede our freedoms or change our way of life, and we shouldn't change now either.

'Those upset by the prospect of undergoing these scans shouldn't be forced to choose between their dignity and their flight.



'What kind of a free society does the Government think it is "protecting", when it invades our privacy like this?



'When we are forced to expose ourselves at the airport in order to go on holiday, the terrorists have won.'