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Original poster

Male security at LHR asked my 15 daughter to take off her hoodie when she was travelling alone

243 replies

sofato5miles · 17/10/2021 07:10

Am i over reacting? She was upset. She had a large but thin hoodie on and only a strappy top underneath. No female officers and she was properly unnerved by it. She was flying home alone for half term. She is a shy but capable girl. My gut feeling if she felt uncomfortable it was because something felt wrong. WWYD? Would you make an official complaint?

I have spoken to her about finding her voice before ( though in this specific case, requestiing a female officer). The hoodie was mostly zipped but you could see her straps.

OP posts:
HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule · 17/10/2021 12:42

Some people absolutely are shaming the daughter, and those individuals are the ones my comment was directed at.

MrsLargeEmbodied · 17/10/2021 12:44

so should we shame the guard for his request?

SW1amp · 17/10/2021 12:44

@JesterMcFester

It's astounding how many posters on this thread are telling DD to change what she wears rather than saying she should have been asked dealt with by a female security guard.
“Dealt with”? Confused

It’s someone standing next to a scanning telling a queue of people to remove jackets, belts and queue, and asking them if they had liquids in a plastic bag

How on earth would that instruction be any different delivered in a female voice?

The daughter would still be in full view of all the other passengers and staff, even if a woman had asked her

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

Flying Holidays
HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule · 17/10/2021 12:46

@MrsLargeEmbodied

so should we shame the guard for his request?
How on earth did you come up with that as a natural progression??

No, of course not.

Changemusthappen · 17/10/2021 12:47

I would always remove a coat but have never been asked to remove a hoodie or jumper.

I think there are lessons learnt for your daughter here. This clearly caught her by surprise and she didn't feel confident or quick enough thinking to speak out. If she had said 'no' I don't have anything on underneath they would have either wanded her or taken her to another room surely (and a woman would have needed to be present for this).

I'm afraid I am very cynical about men and their behaviour. These things are often not enforced consistently and no-one is actually 100% on what the rule is so we can't challenge. It is entirely possible that there is no rule around this and this man was just a perve, unfortunately there are too many of them around.

Talk to your daughter about finding her voice. Unfortunately I would also say that as a woman I am always concious of what I am wearing in these situations and perhaps she should think it through a bit more next time. I know we shouldn't have to do this but there we are.

Oblomov21 · 17/10/2021 12:49

Love a good airport scan and body search me! Always a bit disappointed when I don't get one! Grin

IHateCoronavirus · 17/10/2021 12:49

Anybody else reading this who really misses flying? [misses point of thread].

Yogawankonobi · 17/10/2021 12:52

We use airport style scanners at work and a zip on a hoodie can set the alarm off.
You may be over thinking this.

Obviously if your daughter felt exposed she should feel able to ask for a female but this time I think it is likely that it was purely to get her through security safely.

RampantIvy · 17/10/2021 12:54

@IHateCoronavirus

Anybody else reading this who really misses flying? [misses point of thread].
Yes
Clymene · 17/10/2021 12:55

I have been on 6 flights with children this year. My male teenager who always wears a zip up hoodie zipped up has been asked to remove it every single time we have been through security at every airport. Sometimes by female security staff, sometimes by male.

They consider them as jackets as far as I can tell. And jackets have to be removed. A jumper or a hoodie which doesn't have a zip down the front is not a jacket.

UsedUpUsername · 17/10/2021 13:00

@IHateCoronavirus

Anybody else reading this who really misses flying? [misses point of thread].
Hate this part though.
OverweightPidgeon · 17/10/2021 13:01

I have always been asked to remove a hoodie at the airport. The security guard had no idea what she had on underneath it so I doubt he was a perve in this case.

LidlMiddleLover · 17/10/2021 13:23

Get real here its a jumper and his job is to make sure nothing dangerous is under it

Xenia · 17/10/2021 13:25

For me it's the work jacket I have to take off leaving the vest top below. I suppose the moral of that tale is I should wear a traditional long sleeved work shirt underneath instead.

PegasusReturns · 17/10/2021 13:27

@YoungGiftedPlump you’ve misunderstood my post. Security staff in terminal 5 first are excellent. It’s those that are in the general security that are awful.

The fact that the security in T5 first can be excellent tells me that it’s just a matter of what they think they can get away with elsewhere.

notimagain · 17/10/2021 14:23

@Changemusthappen

I'm afraid I am very cynical about men and their behaviour. These things are often not enforced consistently and no-one is actually 100% on what the rule is so we can't challenge. It is entirely possible that there is no rule around this and this man was just a perve,

Hmm and that’s putting it politely…

There very definitely is a “rule”/requirement about removing outer clothing, and it is one of several rules clearly displayed in various locations around the approaches to the screening areas at most airports, certainly at LHR and very certainly at T5, from which I used to be a frequent flyer both as a passenger and as crew.

FWIW as some around here will no doubt be aware airport screening staff are regularly vetted/monitored by DfT officials to make sure they do their job consistently and properly….

JesterMcFester · 17/10/2021 14:35

FWIW as some around here will no doubt be aware airport screening staff are regularly vetted/monitored by DfT officials to make sure they do their job consistently and properly…

I mean Wayne Couzens had DV Security Clearance and all that, along with several previous allegations for his misconduct.

diddl · 17/10/2021 14:38

I think it's unfortunate that she felt uncomfortable & I'm not sure how many adults would speak up tbh.

She was wearing a top underneath if just underwear & she felt she had no option but to do as she was told that would be different.

GreyhoundG1rl · 17/10/2021 14:41

I imagine if she's spoken up and said she wasn't wearing anything underneath the whole thing would have played out completely differently...
She didn't and she wasn't. No pervy men issue here at all.

diddl · 17/10/2021 14:43

@GreyhoundG1rl

I imagine if she's spoken up and said she wasn't wearing anything underneath the whole thing would have played out completely differently... She didn't and she wasn't. No pervy men issue here at all.
Well yes, especially if it was obvious that she had a top on as the straps were visible!
RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 17/10/2021 15:23

@Changemusthappen

I would always remove a coat but have never been asked to remove a hoodie or jumper.

I think there are lessons learnt for your daughter here. This clearly caught her by surprise and she didn't feel confident or quick enough thinking to speak out. If she had said 'no' I don't have anything on underneath they would have either wanded her or taken her to another room surely (and a woman would have needed to be present for this).

I'm afraid I am very cynical about men and their behaviour. These things are often not enforced consistently and no-one is actually 100% on what the rule is so we can't challenge. It is entirely possible that there is no rule around this and this man was just a perve, unfortunately there are too many of them around.

Talk to your daughter about finding her voice. Unfortunately I would also say that as a woman I am always concious of what I am wearing in these situations and perhaps she should think it through a bit more next time. I know we shouldn't have to do this but there we are.

And it is entirely possible that he WASN'T a perve and was just a guy doing his job.
notimagain · 17/10/2021 16:31

@JesterMcFester

FWIW as some around here will no doubt be aware airport screening staff are regularly vetted/monitored by DfT officials to make sure they do their job consistently and properly…

I mean Wayne Couzens had DV Security Clearance and all that, along with several previous allegations for his misconduct.

Nice bit of whataboutry there…well done…

Fundamentally when each and everyday vetted airside pass holders, male or female, of all sorts of a wide range of ages and a variety of shapes Blush, are routinely required to remove outer layers (and sometimes that has included uniform pullovers/cardigans) when going through security I’m struggling to see why people are so quick to assume the security operator involved in this case was out of order.

As already mentioned by various posters the operators (he/she) are required to ask for the outer layer to be removed (due to airport/possibly UK DfT regs), and in the case under discussion here the operator probably wasn’t to know what style of top the DD in question was wearing under the hoody until that came off.

Toooldforthis321 · 17/10/2021 17:01

@notimagain I remember coming across the same security person and being searched just for coming to landside and back to airside again for relieving someone's break or moving stock across within the same half an hour. I also remember BAA being checked to make sure they are checking people properly.
I certainly don't miss being felt under the arms, as I hated being touched there and was always conscious if I was a bit sweaty! BlushGrin

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross · 17/10/2021 17:33

@HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule

Please can we stop shaming the OP’s young daughter for feeling uncomfortable? She didn’t need to ‘find a grip’, she was perfectly entitled to find it uncomfortable given that she wasn’t expecting it and she’s done nothing wrong in talking to her mum about it.

That doesn’t mean the security agent did anything wrong either.

We are not shaming her: we are baffled that - having chosen her clothes herself - she didn’t feel comfortable in them!
HollyandIvyandAllThingsYule · 17/10/2021 18:02

It isn’t a stretch to imagine that she might not have realised she’d be asked to take off a zipped hoodie. Fgs people can be so utterly...what’s the word... dim sometimes.

She doesn’t need to be talked about as if she’s stupid for feeling uncomfortable in that situation. She’s 15!