Flaws in Canterbury's anti-terror bollard system uncovered by KentOnline investigation

KentOnline / KMTV

The city council was been forced to take urgent action after KentOnline exposed alarming flaws in security measures designed to stop hostile vehicle attacks. Bartholomew Hall reports.

Transcript

00:00This is the moment a Kent Online reporter was able to drive through Canterbury's anti-terror

00:06bollards with no questions asked.

00:08Good morning, as always, please wait until you go fully down and then we might pass through

00:15you.

00:17Installed in 2020 and costing more than £750,000, these electronic gateways were designed to

00:24protect the city centre from vehicle attacks.

00:27Since then they've become notorious for images like this of cars becoming impaled, often

00:32due to following too closely behind another.

00:35They're supposed to stay raised 24-7, lowered only briefly for authorised access, but since

00:41January of this year our investigation frequently found them left open, sometimes for hours.

00:47During the day only residents and emergency vehicles can enter the city centre, but before

00:5210.30 and after 4pm permission is extended to delivery drivers and contractors.

00:57However, when our reporter drove up at just after 10am in January, the bollards were lowered

01:02before he even had a chance to say why he wanted to get through.

01:06The council told us it's hugely disappointed a staff member failed to follow protocol before

01:11going on to apologise and saying that all staff are being retrained.

01:15It's also told us it's worked with the manufacturer regularly to fix reliability issues, calling

01:20the bollards complex machinery prone to the occasional fault.

01:25But despite the apology, several sites continued to be seen out of action.

01:30On two more visits to the bollards, our reporter was again able to access the zone with full

01:34stories without being asked for his name, registration or destination address.

01:39Package to deliver in Mercery Lane.

01:42Hello, I've got a Tesco delivery for a resident.

01:45Please make sure you're out by 10.30 because after that it's a pedestrian zone my friend.

01:50OK, thank you.

01:51That's fine.

01:52Just wait for the bollards to go all the way down and the green light to come on then.

01:57In response, we were told our reporter had given perfectly legitimate reasons for entry

02:01and that these days deliveries can be made by all different types of vehicles.

02:06Despite this, some businesses say they're concerned about how worthwhile the bollards

02:10even are.

02:11Considering it was here for anti-terrorism, now it is very easy to come into town centre.

02:16I think sometimes the bollards are down so it allows vehicles to actually come up and

02:21down the street even though it's one way.

02:23There's not many checks involved, no number plate recognition or anything like that.

02:27You can literally claim to be anybody and they'll give you access into the town centre.

02:31We also found the council spent £80,000 on maintaining the bollards since 2023, which

02:37is up more than £40,000 on the three years before.

02:41So whilst the city is addressing its security concerns, it seems the bollards remain a costly

02:46burden to maintain.

02:48Bartholomew Hall for KMTV in Canterbury.

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