New x-ray machine sees through clothes at the airport

Is that a mobile phone in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?

A new x-ray scanner which produces a “naked” image of any person who passes through it is currently being trialled at Manchester Airport. The new device does all the hard work with passengers having to simply stand with legs shoulder width apart and put their hands on their head. Any hidden items are then spotted immediately. The only down side is that the scanner leaves nothing to the imagination highlighting everything from hip replacements to breast implants...

However, fret not - as a screen displaying the image is viewed in a room far far away from all the other passengers by a single person. If anything suspicious is detected then staff on hand are alerted and can proceed to take appropriate action. The images are then deleted from the database so fingers crossed we won't be hearing reports of these photos being uploaded to a staff group on Facebook.

The scanner could have been incorporated sooner had it not been delayed by civil rights campaigners who were not happy about the naked black and white image being captured. But since the images are deleted the privacy problem has somewhat been sidestepped. According to head of customer service at Manchester Airport, most people “dislike the traditional pat-down search and the scanner takes away the hassles to having to undress.”

The trial will last for a year and if results are satisfactory then the new machines could be rolled out to airports across the country in the not too distant future.