AN AIRBUS 320 WAS DISPATCHED IN NON COMPLIANCE WITH #3 SPOILER PAIR DEFERRED AS INOP PER THE MEL; BUT NOT LOCKED OUT CORRECTLY.

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ACFT RETURNED TO GATE FROM TAXI OUT. CREW RPTED 'L SPOILER 3 POS CROSS DUCT' MESSAGE AND COULD NOT GET THE MESSAGE TO CLR. 2 R AND E'S AND 1 GATE MECH WENT OUT TO THE PLANE TO TRY TO CLR THE MESSAGE; BUT WERE NOT SUCCESSFUL. WE DECIDED TO DEFER THE #3 SPOILER PAIRS. THE MEL TO DEFER THE SPOILER AND THE MAINT MANUAL FOR LOCKING OUT THE SPOILER WERE PRINTED UP AND TAKEN OUT TO THE PLANE TO DO THE DEFERRAL. THE R AND E'S AND MECH TOLD ME THEY WERE DONE WITH THE WORK; SO I DID THE PAPERWORK FOR THE DEFERRAL AND RELEASED THE ACFT FOR SVC. AFTER THE ACFT LEFT; I GOT A CALL FROM MAINT CTL THAT THE SPOILERS WERE FLOATING IN FLT. I ASKED THE GATE MECH IF HE HAD TURNED THE SPOILER ACTUATORS FROM MAINT POS TO THE OPERATE POS. THE MECH SAID HE DID NOT REMEMBER IF HE HAD. I CALLED MAINT CTL AND TOLD THEM THAT THE SPOILER LOCKOUTS WERE PROBABLY NOT IN THE OPERATE POS. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING: THE RPTR STATED THE SPECIAL TOOL CALLED OUT IN THE MEL FOR DEACTIVATING THE #3 SPOILER PAIR WAS NOT AVAILABLE AT THE TERMINAL; SO HAND TOOLS WERE USED TO RESET THE SPOILER ACTUATOR SERVO. THE RPTR SAID THE SPECIAL TOOL MUST BE USED; BECAUSE THE TOOL IS TURNED COUNTER CLOCKWISE AND IS LOCKED IN THIS POS AND CANNOT BE REMOVED UNTIL ROTATED CLOCKWISE WHERE A POS LOCK IS OBTAINED. THE RPTR STATED THE AIRPLANE WAS DISPATCHED AND RPTED INFLT THE SPOILERS WERE FLOATING. THE RPTR SAID THE SPECIAL TOOL IS NOW STOCKED AT THE TERMINAL.