A friend of mine had a terrible experience at GAtwick airpoort ..what would you have done in her place?

[gypsymummy]

Ok I am going to try and sumamrise the story : a friend of mine travelling yesterday from gatwick airport with her two children experienced first hand the ugly side of the tough security measures that have lately been making a lot of headlines. Her 7 year old son ( who has learning difficulties)was asked to take his shoes off and wouldn't. My friend did her best but the boy would not take his shoes off and flew into a tantrum. So what happens next you ask? The secuirty personnel get all serious and demand the boy takes his shoes off.The mother keeps trying to explain the situation and to her dismay is told: his behaviour is NOT acceptable! They then call a superior security person and then amidst the boy's screaming and howling and kicking and beating four persons pin him down and take the pair of shoes off!!! My poor friend who was also carrying her 4 month old baby was so shocked she just sat and watched. Her son continued to fight and scream and she has bruises all over body because as soon as the shoes came off the boy went ballistic on her. She called me earlier from abroad and is detrmined NEVER to come to the UK again. She has absolutely no problem with security measures she is just horrified at the inhumane, insensitive, harsh and terrorist like behaviour of these airport security personnel. I myself am sizzling. Nothing can excuse this, not even the fact we were just faced with a failed terrorist plot.

How horrid for your friend. I have an ASD 7 year old and he would be very resistant to taking shoes off as well.

scurry-maybe next time she needs to warn him he may be pinned down and searched?
im disgusted!

Very bad that a child was manhandled - and whether she is very white, does or does not wear a veil etc is of no relevance, it wouldn't have been acceptable whatever she looks like.

Acceptable to refuse boarding until shoes had been removed,yes. For guards to pin him down and remove them without her permission, no!

headfairy
please more info, i also have a different surname as my ds, and changing it is not an option, he also has a different surname as his dad, what sort of problems did she encountered? what was their problem?

I agree they haven't handled the situation well and that she has cause to complain about the rough treatment but if you can't employ security measures due to unwillingness to conform, then they are pretty pointless measures.

If gentle persuasion has not helped and the mother doesn't remove his shoes, what else should happen?

wouldliketoknow, take your ds's birth certificate with you if you travel in that case. That's what my sister did in the interim until the deedpoll came through. They just needed proof that my Dniece was my sister's dd, but they could have been gentler imo.

I agree, I'd be calling a lawyer and getting hold of that cctv.

OK, they didn't have to let him past security if he wouldn't comply with their rules, but by assaulting him, they went way over the line, imo.

sorry wouldliketoknow, hit post too soon. All they need is proof that the child is yours as they are looking for child smugglers/kidnappers. I presume your ds's birth certificate has your name on it? In which case that should be fine.

"If gentle persuasion has not helped and the mother doesn't remove his shoes, what else should happen?"

They should refuse to let you pass the check point.

What they should NOT do is assault a child because he doesn't understand the process.

Scurry you are correct - no-one should be allowed to board a plane without going through security checks. But that's it - they should have refused boarding. They should NOT have man-handled the boy. There was no need for that whatever you think of the security situation.

they turn him away, that is what should happen. if he continued to refuse, tehy just turn him away. it is that simple. yes alot of incovenience for mum having to rebook flights but far rather that than have your son assaulted by 4 grown people.

even if they did assume he was just being difficult and a spoilt brat they still could have refused them to board as someone suggested above and insisted the mother do something without them actually laying a hand on him..nobody is questioning the need to protect people in general and we should have faith in the security services , but this is surely a breech of this trust.

And if the mother said "Please could you help me remove my son's shoes" then fair enough - but what you DON'T do is leap in without any invitation or any understanding of the situation.

Get thee to the Daily Mail immediately...

it is not my right to do that Puppymonley although I would love to..it is her right and choice and call..i am just fuming and had to vent..i would surely have complained at the least but at the end of the day it is her call..

I'm guessing that the mother didn't want to be turned away then because at that point if forced removal is too much, then you about turn and leave.

It seems to have escalated for no real reason. I am guessing there was a little lack of cooperation on the mother's side too for it to get to that stage.

Please get your friend to complain - that is unacceptable. Best contact I could find after a v. quick search is [email protected]
Scurryfringe I think your comments are not helpful. Yes we all know that we have to go through these procedures but to treat a 7 yr old in this way is wrong and the people involved need to be made aware so they can learn from these situations. It should not just be dimissed because of the current situation.

Much as we mock the Daily Mail it would cover a story like this well.

scurry, by the time forced removal is happening it is too late to turn and walk away. they already had him pinned. i imagine the mum was so stressed about it that she could barely form a sentence.

They do treat children EXACTLY the same as they treat adults. DS2 (8 with autism & cerebral palsy) was removed from his wheelchair and searched. DS2 can stand & walk but he still found it very distressing.

You can if youa re unhappy with any level of search ask for it to be conducted in private, they have private areas to the side to accommodate such requests.

If things get heated you can also ask for the Police, gatwick has on site police at all times.

This does not surprise me. I hate flying into and out of England. In the past 5 years I have been insulted or assulted each time I have steped foot inside an English airport. The list is as follows:

1 - Woman did a search on me after going through the security gate. I did not beep and they said they were picking random people. The woman doing the search put her hand up my crotch and felt me up. I was so mad I missed my flight to file a complaint and I waited 6 hours to speak with her manager. After not getting anywhere I tried to press charges but was told by the police that I didn't have a case.

2 - Going through immigration coming into the UK I went through with my DH who is Danish. She would not let us go through together and made me go to the back of line. It took 25 mins to get through and when I got to the front the lady had a go at me because I was standing next to her and not infront of her. I again asked to speak to a manager and filed a complaint. This time I followed up with my MP and wrote a letter to Gordon Brown.

3 - Leaving I was stopped for random searching before getting on a flight and they dumped the contents of my bag (shaking it to get everything out) on the table (half of it landed on the floor) and went through it. After they were finished they just left it there for me to clean up. I have never seen anything like it. My DH took pictures and we sent in a letter to our embassy here in the US.

4 - I was stopped for a random search because I was wearing an expensive watch and wasn't dressed accordingly. They made me take my watch off, scanned it and were very loud about it. I asked the lady to please be quiet as I didn't want to be mugged at the other end. After all, I had a GBP20k watch on my wrist. She went into a tirade and called me a snobby bitch. There is nothing snobby about me and I worked very hard to buy that watch. Funnily enough I was flying coach that time and my ticket was something like $350 return.

I hate to break it to you but there is nothing you can do to stop these people apart from avoiding the UK. We have started to do this and now have family come visit us here. We do one flight home a year and that is enough.

"My friend did her best but the boy would not take his shoes off and flew into a tantrum. So what happens next you ask? The secuirty personnel get all serious and demand the boy takes his shoes off.The mother keeps trying to explain the situation "

where is the lack of cooperation scurry?

This is the terrible. I'm so sorry.

You take the boys shoes off yourself!

The vague comments about the lady "doing her best" and that she tries to "explain the situation", gives no real indication as to what was said or done.

I agree that the situation was handled badly but I'm not sure this is the full story, a la Daily Mail.

headfairy, thanks for the info, we always take ds birth certificate with us, i was afraid at the other end,...

Want2b, hands on searches are exactly that, hands on & will involve patting & touching any areas where the natural contours of the body are not obvious.
Standard baggage search procedure involves minimal rummaging particularly in handbags or bags with high sides as both parties (searcher & owner) cannot see in the bag if hands are in it rummaging.
Best is to gently tip contents on to a clear table, examine the inside of empty bag & give closer examination to any suspect items.
Unfortunatly some items inevitably roll on to the floor especially if the searcher is a little heavy handed.
It is also usual practcie for the owner to replace all their own items into the bag.
The less contact the seracher has with items the less opportunity for breakage or accusations.