Deportation staff rents an airplane hangar used in Netflix Squid Game to practice forcing asylum seekers onto Rwandan planes
An airplane hangar used to film Netflix reality show Squid Game has been hired for deportation staff to practice forcing asylum seekers onto planes to Rwanda.
The 13,000 square meter building on a former RAF base will be used by Home office contractors for training in the use of force, costing £7.4 million.
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It will cost £6.4 million to rent it for 15 months, with a further £670,000 being spent on renting three aircraft fuselages.
And a further £315,000 will be spent on meals from a catering company that usually serves meals to film stars.
Cardington Airport Bedfordshire has been used by filmmakers since the 1960s.
Parts of the first Star Wars film, released in 1977, was shot there – as was the 2016 one Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The studios in Hangar 2, which at 158 feet has one of the highest ceilings in Britain, were used for two Christopher Nolan Batman movies and last year for Netflix competition, Squid Game: The Challenge.
Details of spending on the use of force project have emerged in newly published contracts from the Home Office.
The training involves dealing with disruptive behavior migrantssuch as those who resort to violence or play dead by lying on the ground while being moved.
Subcontractor Mitie has been hired to carry out the training, but its cost is not included in the £7.4 million.
It has previously advertised for a £36,000-a-year use of force instructor.
The hangar lease, awarded to HCP LR Cardington LP, a partnership owned by an opaque trust based in Jerseyhas cost £6,425,285 and will run until the end of the year.
Shake Rattle N Roll Ltd, the film studios' regular caterer, has been contracted to provide 130 meals a day for five days a week until June 30, but terms allow for an extension.
Renting the aircraft fuselages – an Airbus A319 and two A320s – from Air Salvage International cost £671,090.
The £7.5 million hangar project is in addition to the £240 million British government has already paid Rwanda so far.
A further payment of £50 million is likely to be made in the 2024-2025 financial year.
The Home Office said last night: “Since 2015, the government has had training facilities in place to ensure escorts have the skills they need to deal with different scenarios.”
Trucks 'bad as boats'
By Jack Elsom
Stopping migrants sneaking into Britain on trucks is as important as thwarting small boats, ministers were warned last night.
Last year, more than 3,000 people tried to enter illegally other than Britain Channel crossings.
Tory MP Paul Bristow spoke out after two migrants were found in the hold of a returning school coach France to Totton, Hants.
He said: “The government needs the strongest controls to stop illegal migration in all forms.”
The latest data, for the year to September last year, shows 2,866 people were arrested while in Britain, and 311 at ports.
These are those who hid in trucks, cars, shipping crates and other smuggling methods.
According to the Home Office, hauliers will now be fined £10,000 per stowaway.