CONTROVERSIAL full-body scanners in use at Manchester Airport have come under renewed fire from privacy campaigners.

Fresh complaints were launched after it emerged an airport worker allegedly caught ogling images of a female colleague was given a police warning for harassment.

The Heathrow worker allegedly made lewd remarks to colleague Jo Margetson, aged 29, after she entered an X-ray machine by mistake.

She reported the matter to her bosses and to police. Manchester and Heathrow are the first two airports in the country to have the scanners in use.

They were introduced following the failed Christmas Day bomb plot to blow up a jet over Detroit in the US.

Their introduction has been opposed by some groups who fear the revealing nature of the images the scanners provide could breach people's rights.

And after details emerged of the Heathrow incident yesterday, Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch, said: “When privacy-invading machines like these are installed at our airports, abuses like this are inevitable.”

A Manchester Airport spokesman said: “We’ve put additional privacy measures including preventing members of staff involved with the operation of the machine from carrying mobile phones or cameras and none of the images are stored or captured after the passenger has cleared the machine.”

Matthew Knowles, spokesman for UK aerospace, defence and security trade organisation ADS, said: “We must never forget that this equipment, along with other similar devices, exist to protect us from terrorist attack.”