WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en-GB

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Sometimes, when people say something is "secret",
they mean it's little-known or hidden. But

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this actually is a secret.

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In the Second World War, Britain had a problem:
getting fuel from refineries to airfields

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up and down the country. Above-ground transport
of fuel was too vulnerable to well-placed

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bombing of the road network. Not to target
the tankers themselves, but to make the roads

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they used impassable. The solution: build
an enormous top-secret, underground pipeline

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network to carry aviation fuel across the
country. It was even built at night so enemy

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reconnaissance aircraft wouldn't be able to
tell what was going on.

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Over the decades since, this network has been
expanded and expanded and expanded, until

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it became 1500 miles of pipes, that connect
seaports, airports, fuel refineries, and Air

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Force bases across Britain. It's vital for
both military and civilian use: when your

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plane's being refuelled at any major British
airport, that fuel is coming from tanks that

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are connected straight to this pipeline network.

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Airports in other countries have similar systems,
but they're smaller, private arrangements.

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This was one big, top secret, government network
-- in fact, until it was sold off and privatised

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in the last few years, the Air Force flew
over most of the network regularly just to

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make sure all was well.

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Now, the pipeline's public knowledge today,
because, well, you can't keep something as

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big as that secret any more. You can see the
schematic, like a vague subway diagram, and

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there are a few well-documented places, like
here near Gloucester, where it pokes above

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ground for a few metres. But there is no public
map of exactly where the pipelines lie. In

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2010, the government refused to answer a Freedom
of Information request for that map, on the

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grounds that it would affect national security
and defence. And, to be fair, it would.

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But at the same time: anyone local might well
need to know where that pipelines is, just

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so a construction worker with a drill doesn't
suddenly break a pipe, and spray high pressure,

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highly-flammable aviation fuel all over the
place, and stop Heathrow Airport for a day.

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So all the pipes have these markers above
them at regular intervals -- sometimes these

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small ones you can see in the back, but often
these massive posts. Most people will see

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them just as street furniture, if they notice
them at all, but if you're a professional

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surveying the area round here ready to dig,
that's a big warning sign that, perhaps, you

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might want to double-check exactly what's
below ground here.

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Now in theory, someone could use modern aerial
and street photography, work out the routes,

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and publish them anyway -- and a few enthusiasts
have done that for their local area. But you

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won't see any official confirmation of that,
because for once, this pipeline really is

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a secret.

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