When losing the office key codes makes headline news

When a vehicle maintenance contractor's car was stolen, thieves removed a clipboard with a sheet of paper listing access codes for pushbutton locks on 73 Police station yards in West London. The contractor disclosed the loss and all the numbers were changed within 11 hours, but this was yet another embarrassing security blunder for HM Government. Questions have been posed about why a civilian had access to such sensitive information and why he failed adequately to secure it. The relatively poor security afforded by mechanical pushbutton locks would be another concern although thankfully Police stations have multiple overlapping layers of physical security.