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THE HEAD of private security giant G4S has admitted the company’s failure to provide enough guards for the London Olympics was “a humiliating shambles”, as he faced a grilling from MPs.
Chief executive Nick Buckles said he expected the company would eventually be able to supply 7,000 of the 10,000 staff it had promised. An extra 3,500 troops have already been drafted in by the British government to plug the gap.
But he insisted he would not resign over the scandal and said G4S, one of the world’s biggest security firms, would still claim its £57 million (€72 million) management fee for the Olympics contract.
Asked by one member of parliament’s Home Affairs Select Committee whether it was a “humiliating shambles” for G4S, with the Olympics just 10 days away, Buckles replied: “I cannot disagree with you.”
He also admitted that the firm had taken on the Olympics contract to boost its reputation rather than for profit, but agreed when the committee suggested that reputation was now “in tatters”.
His company would not be bidding to provide security at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he added.
However, amid mounting pressure for him to quit his £830,000-a-year job, Buckles insisted he was the “best person” to see the London contract through.
The staffing shortfall only came to his attention on July 3, Buckles said, adding: “Day by day we started to realise that the pipeline and the people we thought we were going to be able to deliver we couldn’t.”
Buckles said G4S, which has £600 million of private sector contracts with the British government, only raised the problem with ministers on July 11 when it was sure it would not be able to fulfil the agreed quota.
“We have a significant manpower shortage against the plan. Clearly that shortage is going to manifest itself from this day forward until the Games,” he said.
Buckles said G4S currently had 4,200 people working and that the “minimum we can deliver” by the start of the Games on July 27 was 7,000. But when asked whether he could guarantee they would all turn up he said “I can’t, no.”
G4S shares slid by 6.20 per cent to 238.82p on London’s FTSE 100, which closed down 0.59 per cent at 5,629.09. The firm’s shares also suffered heavy falls yesterday.
It emerged yesterday that in addition to the military support at least eight police forces have had to deploy extra officers at Olympic venues across Britain – reportedly after employees of G4S failed to turn up to work.
The company is set to lose up to £50 million for failing to meet the obligations of its £284 million Olympics contract.
But London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe insisted that Games security would not be affected by the G4S shortfall, pointing out that “the numbers haven’t really changed”.
“It’s really simply about the mix of security on the park,” he said. ”At this very moment our teams are working alongside G4S to ensure that they deliver as many of those guards as they possibly can.”
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All he had to do was stick his hard across the water and would have gotten all the staff he needed
Head not hard
T’would be a dirty act to stick his hard across the water, :P
But you’re right,
I’m sure if there was a special arrangement made for irish applicants, people would jump at applying, even for a life time experience !
Across the water or not, the problem was not that they didn’t have enough staff recruited, they have not got enough trained, vetted and badged quickly enough. The ones they do haven’t been managed properly and are waiting to be rostered for work but have not been contacted.
Ok they made a mistake. Looked at the problem, are currently solving it, and are still man enough to hold their hands up and say “we made a mistake, its a shambles”.
Anything the irish government/industry captains can learn from this???
really is quiet a disgrace, amazed the penalty is so lenient
I’d say there’s 3000 Irish lads that would be there in the morning given half a chance to earn a few bob.
Passed a few soldiers on my way to work this morning. I still don’t know what to make of this whole Olympics thing, hope its worth it for the ordinary Londoners.
Astonishing that in a recession people still don’t want to work.
Too handy for some on the scratch.
They received over 100000 applications for these jobs. This company also treats its staff disgracefully.
Can we just set the record straight on this?
G4S made the cock-up – it has nothing to with workers “not showing up for work”. G4S are handing out schedules to staff that say they should have been in work last week, hence the not showing up.
I write this as a G4S-trained staff member who has yet to be called by G4S to work. — despite calling them numerous times. I expect that when I eventually get my rota it will say I should be in work from three weeks ago!
Talk about bukles-ing under pressure
Apologies for jumping the queue, but I suspect that we are witnessing a major scam gone wrong. Are we really to believe that the head of this lucrative deal has not mastered basic addition, regarding numbers of security employees?. He has appeared very socially adept up until this point, but now his mask appears to be melting under the grilling that he has received.
How did this only come to light so close to the event?? Sone very bad project management if they didn’t spot that they were not going to have the required numbers to complete the requirements of the contract!
Because it was all subcontracted almost 3 years ago. The company lined up a load of guys when they made their tender bid. Now, 3 years later they’re asking the lads if they’re still ok for that little job and they get “ah no, ive got a job in the meantime/i’ve emigrated/im not interested anymore” etc etc…
This is ridiculous security should been have sorted out months ago! Everything should be in place now as the start of the Olympics is only 10 days away, have they never heard of terrorism? After the the London bombing I would thought have tthis would be a top priority!
When you read this article, you expect it to be another Irish f**k up. But alas , it’s our neighbours…. Still can’t wait for games. Should be a good one.
Could you say the same amount would go to war? It’s easier said than done, I personally think they should not rely on that security firm but install as many SAS as they can, after what happened when it was announced seven years ago so many souls lost in the London underground & buses..
I know of retired Irish people who offered to work voluntarily at the games having done similar work here with the special Olympics and ended being offered employment for 8 weeks.
have your say