ANOTHER ROYAL GLOCK-UP
Protection squad lose key to their guns case
Norman Silvester Exclusive
ELITE police guarding Prince Charles arrived in Scotland without the key to their gun box.
The six-strong Royal Protection Unit left the keys on a desk in their London base before setting out for Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, where the prince was staying with Camilla Parker Bowles during a week-long visit to Scotland.
The blunder was discovered when officers went to open the box - containing Glock 9mm automatics, handguns, and rifles - in Holyrood.
The officers from the Metropolitan Police had to borrow bolt-cutters from local cops to open the box - dubbed No. 1 case - before starting duty.
A security expert said: "There were red faces all round when they realised what had happened.
"They had to phone London and a desk sergeant told them the keys were still lying on the table."
A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police yesterday said they did not comment on security matters.
The incident is the fourth firearms blunder involving police guarding the Royals in just two years.
A policeman guarding the Queen accidentally fired his gun inside Buckingham Palace last year.
PC Michael Aldridge was checking his Glock pistol in the palace's police room at the end of his shift when it went off. Police and palace aides rushed to the room to discover no one had been injured.
The Queen had left the palace shortly before the incident.
She had been there all morning, but had just left for Windsor to prepare for the state visit of President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa.
PC Aldridge, who is in his early 30s, was removed from firearms duties and his firearms certificate suspended.
In another incident, PC Philip Colvill, part of the team protecting Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice, shot a fellow officer in the arm during a training exercise.
Six officers and four instructors were practising how to deal with an attack on the royal family, when the shooting occurred.
The victim was taken to hospital, where the bullet was removed.
Two years ago, royal guard PC Michael Slade fired two bullets on the Royal Train, next to the compartment where the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were sleeping.
One bullet hit a coffee table as the officer took off his holster.
The other went through the floor of the train as he tried to make the weapon safe.
The train was stationary at the time in the Welsh countryside.
n.silvester@sundaymail.co.uk
EDIT:
Comment from Spyda:
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::Disclaimer: Eliteness may vary::
