Personal dossiers on opponents of the third runway are given to police
It appears that Richard Briers' carrots have done nothing to dissuade the Government to alter their plans for expanding Heathrow. Neither did the Flash mob protesters who sung against airport expansion in a Eurovision-themed demonstration last week.
However, this week some campaigners had something very different to sing about after discovering that their personal details had been handed over to the police.
In tactics described as "tantamount to blackmail”, the Department for Transport (DfT) have been accused of compiling dossiers on opponents of the third runway.
Speaking to Evening Standard, Linda McCutcheon, secretary of No Third Runway Advisory Group, said that she feared that video footage, private letters and personal information has been used against her. The 63-year-old Sipson resident said, “I'm disgusted that our Government is using such sinister tactics to keep us in check — it's tantamount to blackmail.”
The “communications directorate” was exposed in a written Parliamentary answer from Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon, who said his officials wanted to “understand the views” of those “with an interest in transport policy”.
May 28, 2009
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