TRANSPORT Secretary Mark Harper has said that there will be an independent review into the failure of the UK’s air traffic control system.
He told GB News: “It was a problem with national air traffic services yesterday morning, there was a technical issue…but airlines have a responsibility now to ensure people can get back to where they were getting to and to look after them.
“This was a technical fault. We do not think there was a cyber security incident and what will happen now with an incident of this magnitude is there will be an independent review.
“The Civil Aviation Authority will be putting together a report in the coming days, which obviously I will take a look at to see whether there are lessons to learn for the future, to see whether we can reduce the impact of this again.”
In a discussion during Breakfast with Eamonn Holmes and Isabel Webster, he added: “It’s nearly a decade since there was a significant issue like this.
“We want to make sure it doesn’t happen again because of all the disruption that’s been caused to thousands of passengers across the country.”
Asked about the expansion of the ULEZ in London, he said: “I don’t have the power to stop it coming into force. That’s a decision for the Mayor of London backed by the Labour leader. I think he should think again.
“He says this has to do with air quality. His own impact assessment says this will only have a minor to negligible effect on air pollution. It’s not about air pollution. It’s about a money-raising exercise.”
