Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast is Tuesday the 4th of April and I'm at an airport and I've just had the most wonderful experience.

Now that may not sound as though airport and wonderful experiences belong in the same sentence, but let me tell you exactly where I am.

Just cleared the security checkpoint

at London City Airport, which from today is the first airport over one million passengers

per year where you don't need to get your liquids out. You can take a bottle of water bigger than

100 millilitres. No need to sort out those laptops and iPads and so on.

So absolutely transformational. And to talk more about it, I'm delighted to be joined by Ricky

Pluck, who looks after security and indeed customs here at London City. Ricky, thanks for that

great experience. The only problem is I'm not

actually travelling anywhere, but tell me what you've done and how you've done it. Yes, obviously,

since 2006, we've had the liquid rule in place. It's really coming, we've travelling with your

family, sorting out all the liquids and such. So we've implemented new technology. It's the

CT scanner, as they're called,

and changes the whole experience for every passenger that comes through. Now, rather than sorting out all your liquids and your laptops,

everything remains inside the bag. You can take up to two litres of liquid in a bottle, and it's a quick and efficient way of coming through.

So it's really changed it for us as the staff,

making it more pleasant experience for us and also for the passengers. So when they come up,

starting taking everything out their bag, we politely tell them, keep it all inside. We've got a great

look of surprise as they come through and it's this fantastic, positive feedback all along.

And as you've just experienced yourself, straight through, it's quick.

You come through the other side, generally one tray, pick up all your belongings,

and then you're off on your way.

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