Giant letters, made of LEGO, spell out 'WELCOME' on the entrance drive, but these have been giving the park a security headache - how to protect them from overenthusiastic members of the public in a discreet way that wouldn't undermine their message?

After much research, Legoland turned to a smart motion sensor alarm system developed by Call Systems Technology (CST). And so far - according to park welcome and security manager Geoff Horwood - it's working perfectly.

"The letters and their associated LEGO friends represent a significant investment," says Horwood. "Each is made of thousands of specially treated small LEGO bricks and requires craftsmanship, patience and plenty of love to construct.

"We need, discreetly, to protect our assets. The entrance drive is our guests' first experience of LEGOLAND and the letters and 'friends' provide their earliest step into our land of make believe.

"CST's solution is ideal, as it is totally hidden, there are no unsightly aerials, it was easy to install, and it's weatherproof."

The system uses discreet motion sensors mounted on the letters and figures. If an alarm is activated, a pop-up instantly appears on-screen in the security gatehouse, stating which letter 'activated'. Security personnel then use CCTV to check if vandalism caused the alarm, or weather conditions or another cause, and instruct relevant staff to go and investigate.

The LEGOLAND system is based around CST's Genesis software, which creates a log of any activities related to the alarms. When security staff arrive in the morning they can see what alarms have been activated overnight and how fast the response times were. It also highlights continuing problems so the team can react accordingly.

Another issue for any tourist attraction is the seasonal nature of some staff. "However," adds Horwood: "the CST system is exceedingly simple to manage.

"We have produced a basic training manual for new staff but, frankly, it's something that can be picked up in seconds."

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