IT MAY seem surprising after a talk about the Lockerbie disaster, but Eastleigh and Winchester Victim Support members left their annual general meeting feeling reassured about air travel safety.

Ken Smart CBE, Chief Inspector of Air Accidents, told the meeting at Chandler's Ford Methodist Church that 50 per cent of passengers will walk away from an air accident.

Mr Smart, of Clandon Drive, Boyatt Wood, Eastleigh, said he had no fear of flying, especially as Britain's accident rate was improving, with one air accident per four million departures. He said: "If you wanted to fly every day of your life for 4,000 years you could do that without experiencing an accident, statistically.

"The worst part of the world for air safety is south-east Asia and the worst country in the world is Taiwan. Taiwan's accident rate is about four times the global rate."

Improvements in Britain's air safety are due in part to lessons learned from the Lockerbie disaster in 1988.

Hundreds died when a Pan Am Boeing 747 exploded over the Scottish town after a bomb was planted in the baggage compartment.

Mr Smart explained how his team investigated the tragedy and how ten years later, a bomb-proof baggage compartment lining was developed and successfully tested.

"Aircraft are already fitted with these systems - that's the EL-AL and royal aircraft - and there are plans to expand their use to other aircraft," he added.

Eastleigh and Winchester Victim Support chairman Ian Starforth Hill QC congratulated volunteers and staff on the scheme's tenth anniversary.

The scheme responded to 1,025 calls in the last year, with 451 in Eastleigh, 165 in Hedge End, 105 in Netley, 217 in Winchester's North Walls district, 58 in Twyford and 29 in Alresford.

The most common cause of referrals was ABH, accounting for 340 victims, followed by burglary at 312.

Awards for ten years' service were given to volunteers Stephen Broadbent from Chandler's Ford, Jennifer Dixon from Oliver's Battery in Winchester, Judith Moody from Chandler's Ford, and Tracey Slade from Eastleigh.

Among those who have received support are victims of child abuse, murder and manslaughter, domestic violence, sexual violence, and bereaved families of people who have died in road accidents.