[This article has been subject to a published correction]

A lapdancing club was one of four undisclosed sites contaminated with radioactive polonium210 before or after the poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko sparked a £3 million investigation, The Times has learnt.

Westminster City Council has disclosed that 47 venues were checked for contamination, including five buses, eight aircraft, eight hotels and seven restaurants as police followed the polonium trail.

Westminster spent £250,000 on environmental health staff to close and clear sites, and the Metropolitan Police spent nearly £1 million on the investigation, The Timeshas been told. The Health Protection Agency (HPA), which checked more than 1,000 people and all 47 sites, spent £2 million on the investigation, which started on November 26 last year, three days after Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB spy, died.

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BACKGROUND

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• The Litvinenko File

• Litvinenko was told that he was marked for death

Of the 47 venues, 21 were found to have traces of polonium, including two aircraft and four venues that have not previously been identified. The four were found to have very low levels of polonium210. They included Hey Jo, a lapdancing club frequented by Russian businessmen, which was represented by Cherie Booth, QC, in a challenge to the recent smoking ban.

The other new sites were Dar Marra-kesh, a Moroccan restaurant; Mr Litvinenko’s Mercedes car and a grey Mercedes taxi from Lambeth, South London.

In the “gentlemen’s nightclub” Hey Jo, traces of polonium were found on seating, cushions and cubicle doors. These were then cleaned to reduce the levels of the substance.

Two items in the Moroccan restaurant that displayed high levels of contamination - a fabric shisha pipe handle and a cushion cover - were removed. Mr Litvinenko’s car had high levels of contamination and a large bag of waste was removed from the Lambeth taxi to reduce polonium traces to safe levels.

A spokesman for the HPA admitted that some of the sites, including the aircraft, took a long time to to investigate because seats were frequently changed round.

John Barradell, the deputy chief executive of Westminster City Council, said that the council had to take responsibility for a massive clear-up exercise with no proper national protocol. The council is sending out guidance this week to government departments, including the Home Office and the Department of Health, showing the steps taken and the lessons to be learnt from the operation.

As the scale of Operation Whimbrel began taking shape, officers from the council, the Home Office, the police, the HPA, the Environment Agency and others convened to set up the Gold Recovery Group, to coordinate the response. Lessons had been learnt from the London bombings in July 2005 and a clear media strategy was developed, with the HPA leading on the health implications. At the same time the council was sending environmental health officers in to the possibly contaminated sites as soon as they were named by the police. They were accompanied by scientists and medical staff from the HPA who speedily assessed levels of contamination and decided if premises had to be closed.

“The number of sites came in thick and fast from the police,” Mr Barradell said. “On one night we had to send staff to investigate ten premises. We had to prepare a protocol for each venue as the information came in from the Met.”

The protocol covered cleaning or decontaminating the venues, closing them down, taking away contaminated items and calling in contractors to remove plaster.

Michael Clark, science spokesman for the HPA, said that where possible surfaces were wiped down to remove or reduce traces of polonium. But where radioactive levels were high, contractors had to be brought in to hack away at plaster or remove walls or parts of ceiling and floors.

He confirmed that 17 people had been found with traces of polonium and had needed to be followed up, but none had to be treated and there was no risk of further contamination.

Several premises were closed for months, including the Pine Bar in the Millennium Hotel, which closed on November 26 and did not reopen until April 18, and the Itsu restaurant, which closed on November 24 and reopened on February 22. The delay was to ensure that the polonium had reached negligible levels. But Mr Barradell said that one of the features of the substance is that its radioactive properties halved every year, so in some cases the substance was left in walls to reduce naturally.

“This was an incredibly complex investigation, which involved teamwork by multiple agencies and in which the council played a lead role heading up the Gold Recovery Group,” a spokesman for Westminster council said.

“But this experience has, of course, come at a significant cost to the council. Given the high profile of Westminster and our crucial role in emergency planning in the heart of the capital, it is an additional financial burden that can only strengthen our case for further funding from central Government to help us ensure that we are fully prepared and equipped to deal with any potential crisis.”

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