A £1 MILLION helicopter which helps maintain the railways from its base in York is to be given a more secure home after intruders managed to get on to the site.

Jarvis Infrastructure is hoping to build a helicopter hangar at its Leeman Road site to protect the Twin Squirrel helicopter, which is fitted with a state-of-the-art thermal imaging camera to spot any potential problems on the tracks.

The helicopter, which is one of nine used by the company across the United Kingdom, has been stored in the open air at Leeman Road since it started operating last year.

But, according to the company's technical development director, Brian Wise, it now needs a more secure home.

So a planning application has been submitted to City of York Council to construct a pitched roof hangar on the site.

Mr Wise said: "We use the helicopter for rapid response in rail maintenance, it's becoming a more permanent operation so we decided to build a hangar for it.

"We are looking after the East Coast Main Line where trains run at 125 miles per hour, so we need to respond very quickly to any problems.

"The helicopter has been living in the open air, but we have had some trespassers on the Leeman Road site.

"We have a security guard watching it and we have got a very sophisticated security system at the moment, but we have looked at all the risks and we don't want someone to have a go at the helicopter, because it's worth a lot of money.

"It's also better for the helicopter if it's stored inside."

A decision on the planning application is expected to be made by council officers.

Updated: 11:23 Tuesday, June 18, 2002