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Air passengers face two years of confusion over how much liquid they can carry in hand luggage.
Passengers can currently only carry liquids in containers with a capacity no greater than 100ml after a liquid bomb plot was uncovered in 2006.
Large airports which handle more than 10 million passengers a year - including Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted - will have the restrictions on carrying liquids lifted in 2012, under proposals from the European Commission. But smaller airports such as Edinburgh, Liverpool and East Midlands, will have to wait until 2014 to follow suit.
This will mean a person travelling from a large airport to a small one would be able to carry as much liquid as they wanted on the outbound journey but would have to check in the liquids or place them in containers no bigger than 100ml on the return leg.
Stephen Hogan, of airport scanner manufacturer Rapiscan, said the rules would "cause uncertainty".
Reader views (8)
Could this possibly be anything to do with people arriving/leaving for the 2012 Olympics?????
- Brazil Pat, NE Brazil
Reuben Camara, read the article properly...."under proposals from the European Commission"
- Mike, Herts
Removing the ban is one thing - if the technology is ready then great, but removing at some airports and not others is just plain stupid!
- Alisdair, Belgium
If the ban is going to be lifted why on earth do we have to wait for another 3 years.
- george, Cambridge UK
Either liquids are a problem or they are not.
Either security standards are the same at smaller airports as larger, or not.
Why would it be safer to fly out of a larger airport? Do they only hire 'rejects' for security at the smaller ones, or are they less vigilant because most of the planes are smaller and fewer people might die???
- Trunk, US
Nobby, to answer your question..."No, there isn't, that's why I left the UK".
- Glynne, Lexington, KY, US
How can anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together have dreamed up such a scheme? Is there no-one with any common sense to oversee government or the EU?
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one
More confusion. Cannot the Wombles of Westminster do anything right?
- Reuben Camara, Morecambe Compound, EUSSR
