POLICE 'NOT READY' FOR DIRTY BOMB

But the Met then decided that instead of equipping every officer with the hoods it would concentrate on creating highly mobile specialist teams equipped with full protective suits within its Territorial Support Group.

A spokesman said the force would rather have specialists than “any Tom, Dick or Harry” officer.

This means that faced with a chemical attack, ordinary officers would have to forget their hero instincts and flee. But security experts fear the sight of police running away from a major incident could spark mass panic.

Superintendent Alan King, who oversees the force’s CBRN work, said the hoods have been issued to “just a handful of people”.

In the latest issue of the CBRNe World magazine he explained: “The actual number of responders is not getting bigger and we are rationalising the assets we have to ensure the right people are trained and are in the right place.”

MPs are also concerned that while all ambulances have been equipped with the canisters, paramedics might not have adequate police back up.

Last night Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: “God forbid that we should ever face a threat of this kind but we really do have to make sure our emergency services have access to the equipment they need.”

Peter Smythe, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, added: “Not enough of us have been trained, not enough of us have the equipment, and not enough of us are even aware of them.”

However, security expert Gwyn Winfield said Scotland Yard wanted to avoid a “false sense of security” among ordinary police.

He said: “There was a real concern that the average copper could actually compromise the capability of the rescue mission. There were some doubts about the capability of the masks and it was felt better to get the proper specialists in there.”

The hoods were developed at the police’s CBRN training centre at a Ministry of Defence base in Hampshire and manufactured in Wiltshire by Avon Rubber, which has just gained safety approval for a contract in the US, after landing a major deal with the Department for Homeland Security.

A spokeswoman for the company said it was talking to the UK Government about ways of selling the hoods, which would likely cost about £100, directly to the public.

During a Commons debate last year, Tory Michael Ancram accused the Government of “washing its hands” of how many hoods should be ordered.

He said: “The Government owe it to the people to ensure that the services of law and order and the rescue services are all properly equipped to respond in a co-ordinated manner to such situations. Failure to do so could be culpable.”

A Home Office spokesman said that the numbers of hoods was a matter for individual police forces.