Securicor: carried out US Sept 11 airport duties properly

Securicor repeated its assertion that its US arm Argenbright carried out its airport screening responsibilities "properly and in accordance with its contractual and regulatory duties" on the day of the Sept 11 attacks.

The comments come in a retort to legal claims holding Argenbright at least partly responsible for September 11 terrorists slipping unnoticed past the firm's security checkpoints at two American airports.

Hijacked planes from Newark and Washington crashed respectively in rural Pennsylvania and into the Pentagon, Washington.

Securicor itself has been named in one suit, though papers are yet to be served, the company said.

Argenbright, which for legal purposes is what is described as a separate limited liability corporation, has aviation insurance "which was in a substantial sum and which included cover for acts of terrorism", the company said.

"The directors believe that, in respect of those two flights, Argenbright carried out its security screening services properly and in accordance with its contractual and regulatory duties and that it should have no liability for the losses which occurred subsequently," Securicor said in the notes to its full-year accounts.

"However, the events of September 11 were so extraordinary that it is impossible at this stage to state with certainty that no findings against Argenbright will be made."