BA bans staff pagers and mobiles

British Airways has banned staff from carrying mobile phones and pagers at airports because of a link between the devices and crime.

The ban applies to staff who work in the cordoned-off airside area at airports and follows a spate of thefts. "There is irrefutable evidence that mobiles and pagers have been used to aid the theft of goods in airport areas," a BA spokesman said yesterday. He added that the airline had suffered theft of luggage, cargo and duty free items involving hundreds of thousands of pounds. Last year a number of workers were arrested after security staff reported thefts.