While thousands of civilian workers will be housed in luxury cruise liners during the Olympics, military personnel drafted in following the G4S staffing debacle are sleeping on chairs and camp beds in makeshift accommodation.
Photographs of Royal Navy troops from HMS Northumberland, which were published on Twitter by ‘CombatCameraman’ and have since gone viral, show the troops bedding down on seats, using jackets as blankets and empty bags as pillows.
CombatCameraman told the London Evening Standard: “It’s actually worse than Afghanistan. We actually have beds over there.”
But the Ministry of Defence denied that the pictures had been taken inside Tobacco Dock, the former shopping centre that is being used to house the 3,500 extra personnel ordered to provide security for the Games.
The troops will examine bags, undertake X-ray scans and conduct body searches. Many are returning from Afghanistan and had to cancel holidays at the last moment, but Transport for London has promised them free travel across the transport network from this weekend until 11 September as a goodwill gesture.
The need to draft in the armed forces is the result of private contractor, G4S, admitting that it was unable to fulfil its £284 million contract and provide a promised 10,400 civilian security guards. Following a raft of training and workforce planning problems, the firm has revised the target down to only 7,000.
Civilian security staff and bus drivers are faring somewhat better than their military colleagues, however. Two three-star cruise liners, the Braemar and Gemini, which are owned by Norwegian cruise firm, Fred Olsen, have now been moored at the Royal Albert Dock, close to Olympic venues and transport hubs.
The ships can take a combined 2,000 passengers and include swimming pools, a theatre and maid service. Stagecoach, which has been contracted to provide buses during the Games, has drafted in 1,000 drivers for media and athlete coaches alone.
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Luxury Cruse
Luxury Cruise normally use for the transportation of people. Some of them are using for business purposes. These are very larger in size and can carry maximum things inside it. More number workers are always being in the cruise and doing their work accordingly.
Coach Bus Oxnard