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Manchester Airport is to trial a new electromagnetic scanner, capable of seeing through travellers' clothes.

Costing in the region of £80,000, the machine is a world away from the X-ray Spex that graced the back page of US comic books in the sixties and seventies, yet the premise remains the same – x-rays penetrate a person’s clothes, revealing concealed items beneath.

Sounds innocent enough, but the scanner also produces a black and white image of a person’s genitals and breasts, including any implants. Authorities maintain that the pictures are not pornographic, and have promised to delete all images immediately.

The scanner has enjoyed successful trials at Heathrow Airport, where it has been based for the past four years.

Security company, Rapiscan, manufacturer and pioneer of x-ray scanners, was full of praise for the new machine: “The x-rays are well suited for seeing objects just below a surface. It has the ability to detect a wide range of threats: metal, explosive, plastic or ceramic.”

The scanner does not penetrate the surface of the skin, but travellers have voiced concerns about indecency and radiation levels. Visitors to the BBC website were equally bemused, referring to the scanner as a “real invasion of our last privacies,” and an “absolute abuse of power.”

Manchester was quick to point out that the machine is completely safe, allowing visitors to take thousands of scans a year. The scanner will remain a voluntary procedure until the end of the year, when the Department for Transport will vote to install the scanners throughout the country, permanently.

For more information about the x-ray scanner, consider watching this video on the Telegraph website.