Clampdown on rogue security firms in Scotland

Heavy-handed security firms with links to organised crime are threatening to ruin Scottish construction companies.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) raided 15 construction sites outside Glasgow last week in an effort to crack down on unlawful and unlicensed security firms.

It said the country was battling rogue security gangs who extorted money from builders. They demand contractors hire their security teams “or else”.

Working with Strathclyde Police, the SIA found seven unlicensed guards working at the sites in Greenock, Inverclyde and another two who were not displaying their licenses.

SIA head of investigation Christy Hopkins said the raids would continue on a regular basis to clean up the industry as construction work ramps up for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

He said: “There is a concern the construction sector is an area of non-compliance with our security
legislation and where the wiser criminal element rests.”

Merseyside Police launched a similar crackdown on rogue security firms in 2006 after builders complained their sites were being trashed when they refused protection.

Hopkins said: “It is not only happening in Liverpool – you hear about it here.”

The SIA crackdown has resulted in a number of successes this year, with six people found working without licenses in West Dunbartonshire in June.

Also that month Lockwood Security worker Marion Lang, 51, of Castlemilk in Glasgow, was jailed for 15 months after attempting to extort contracts from building sites with threats to kill people and damage property.