On September 17, 2010 Pope Benedict pressed on with his visit to Britain despite the discovery of a suspected plot to attack him, using his keynote address to protest at the "marginalization" of religion in public life.

During the speech, Gordon Brown sat next to Tony Blair, Sir John Major and the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg were also in the audience.

Just before the Westminster Hall speech, the pope met the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, at Lambeth Palace, the Anglican leader's official residence.

News of the arrests had reached the papal party earlier in the day. Scotland Yard announced that it had arrested five street cleaners in connection with an alleged terrorist threat.

The men were arrested by armed officers in central London at 5.45am. Sources said the men were believed to be Muslim and that some of them are Algerian. The suspects, aged 26, 27, 36, 40 and 50, were held under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The transport of Pope Benedict’s Popemobile from the Vatican was conducted by Jas Italy who was responsible for the placement of the vehicle during the Scotland leg of the trip. The baton was then passed to JAS UK who organized the London leg of the tour liaising closely with the Foreign Office & Scotland Yard’s SO1 division. The transportation and motorcade started at the Metropolitan Police Training Centre at 6:00 a.m.

The procession proceeded to a Catholic school in Twickenham, followed by a trip to Lambeth Palace and ultimately Westminster Abbey. 

Late in the evening of September 17th the Popemobile was transferred to the JAS Italy truck which was responsible for the transportation on the final day of the visit.  The close co-ordination by all parties involved culminated in a very successful outcome.

Sincerely,
Noel Broadbent
Managing Director
JAS Forwarding (UK) Ltd.
Cargopoint
Bedfont Road
Stanwell
Middlesex
TW19 7NZ
Office: +44 (0)1784 229000
Fax: +44 (0)1784 229100
Email: nbroadbent@jasuk.com