Private Firm G4S Leaves Olympic Security In Shambles

The failure of a London Olympics security contractor to supply the 13,700 guards for the Games has reportedly forced the British government to seek army’s help in a bid to prevent a shambolic situation.

The Home Office reportedly lost patience with G4S’s delays last weekend and asked the armed forces to compensate for the resultant gap.

According to The Guardian, the Home Office has called on the military to provide an extra 3,500 as a desperate move to fill in the possible security gap if G4S fails to fulfill its contract only two weeks ahead of the Olympics opening on July 27.

“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 paper quoted a Whitehall source as saying.

The source also said the Home Office has been “sticking its head in the sand” over the threat of a security gap for the Olympics.

The British armed forces are already supplying up to 13,500 forces for the Games that will increase to 16,500 if the army approves to provide the extra soldiers.

The G4S gaffe would be the second major blunder by the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) over the security of the Games after it had to revise its estimates of the forces needed to secure the Olympics from an initial 10,000 to 23,700 almost doubling the needed budget to £553 million.

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