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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Bag searches at attractions

39 replies

trinity0097 · 04/04/2017 17:41

I can't see the point of these if they don't actually properly search. Was at the Natural History Museum today, and the bored looking man asked me if I had a pen knife or scissors. I said no, he barely looked in the bag and didn't look in the tied up carrier bag (happened to be of dirty clothes!) at the bottom of my backpack. I could have carried anything in. Also teenage foreign students didn't have their bags searched.

It meant the queue to get in was about an hour long as they only had 3 people checking bags.

DH thought the search was because royalty were on site, I reckon they do them all the time though!

OP posts:
MinesaBottle · 04/04/2017 17:43

They do do them all the time or at least at busy times, they're always cursory though! I can't imagine they'd be much of a deterrent.

Original poster
trinity0097 · 04/04/2017 17:46

One guy did have a can of carling confiscated though!

OP posts:
Leinlondon · 04/04/2017 23:14

We were also there today and waited an hour to get in, then were just waived through without our bags being checked. I don't mind at all having the security measures but it does make the queues a lot longer and the attractions need to plan for that by having barriers, people indicating where the queues snake around etc. we witnessed some Shock entitlement from fellow visitors today, with a family wandering up and inserting themselves nonchalantly in front of us after we had been queuing for 20 mins, another tourist family were overheard saying to one of the staff members "would you mind letting us in without queuing please as we had no idea it would be this busy, we wouldn't have come if we had known it would be like this..." Hmm

MadisonAvenue · 04/04/2017 23:22

We have this at Old Trafford and it really annoys me because you get patted down too so obviously there has to be a female security officer to do that for female supporters. Men breeze in quickly as there're always more than enough male officers on a turnstile to do checks yet just one female so their queue is long and for some reason they're more thorough than the men.

sniffle12 · 05/04/2017 00:10

Obviously not the case for museums, but I know at certain places such as football matches, concerts etc they are looking for alcohol/drugs as much as weapons.

I recently went to the races - my diabetic father got patted down by security after going to the toilet because he had 'been in the cubicle too long'. And then had to explain all his needles! Very over-zealous - can only imagine they have a drug problem on the premises.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 05/04/2017 01:33

YANBU. A terrorist isn't likely to say
Oh, yes I've got a bomb, are they. Hmm.

PerspicaciaTick · 05/04/2017 01:36

At the Colosseum in Rome, all bags have to go through airport-style machines and all bottles of liquid have to be empty. It wasn't that slow and was a lot more reassuring than the checks in London. Although I suppose the queue for the security checks might become a target?

TabascoToastie · 05/04/2017 02:24

OP - I work there. What you see is .0001% of our security and anti-terrorism security. And while the guy may have seemed bored (whoever checked your bags would have been one of two men, both of whom I know well) but I can assure you they were doing their job properly and were looking for more than just if you had a weapon in your bag. You'd be astounded if you knew the monitoring and some of our security protocols and technology.

The students would have been checked elsewhere.

And yes the bag checking is all the time.

KC225 · 05/04/2017 02:33

In the 90s a group of us from work went to see Tom Jones at Wembley. I had two tins of cat food confiscated by security.

SaltySeaBird · 05/04/2017 02:34

Really interesting Tabasco as I must admit it always seems like a very cursory glance to me although I've never complained and appreciate there is a reason for it.

treaclesoda · 05/04/2017 02:41

When I was growing up (N Ireland in the 80s) we used to have our bags searched going into shops, and you had to go through a sort of security gate thing just to get into the main shopping street in Belfast.

When I went to England on holidays I was astounded that you could just walk in and out of places willy nilly without anyone looking in your bag Grin Blush

treaclesoda · 05/04/2017 02:45

But of course, now I understand how weird it all feels.

I suppose they are just a superficial deterrent really? As a previous poster said, there will be other things going on that aren't visible to the public I suppose.

TheMysteriousJackelope · 05/04/2017 03:00

In the US when my bag was searched at theme parks they opened all the zippers on any pockets and looked inside.

IHeartDodo · 05/04/2017 03:09

At the Taj Mahal they checked bags and confiscated anything that could scratch /write. Obviously they don't want people writing "Dodo woz here" on their beautiful white monument!

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 05/04/2017 03:18

Oh you've been to the Taj Mahal.
I'm so jealous.
Did you Know. It (,Taj Mahal was actually based on a dream

DPotter · 05/04/2017 03:36

I had my flasks of coffee and hot choc opened and sniffed at a security check at Cardiff cricket ground. They didn't want alcohol brought into the ground to stop trouble. Fair enough I suppose; didn't stop at least one man being ejected from the ground after getting rat-arsed buying drink at their bars.....

marcopront · 05/04/2017 03:46

It's not just the Taj Mahal where bags are checked in India. There are body and bag scans at every public building - so shopping malls, supermarkets, hotels, museums etc. Women have to be checked by a woman and inside a box, because having someone waving a scanner over you might be embarrassing!!! Children don't need to be scanned and my daughter is often laughed when she waits to be scanned.

reuset · 05/04/2017 03:50

Perhaps they thought you were intending to throw the tins of cat food at poor Tom Jones. Why did you take cat food with you? Grin

fairiedemon · 05/04/2017 04:00

I have my bag searched and scanned going into work everyday (work in a skyscraper) and I'm a fully vetted employee so I don't begrudge a glance over my belongings as a randomer going into a building. I would imagine that the security guards are looking for a certain profile of person as indicated to them by police/terrorism services and as PP mentioned this is only a very small part of the security effort. The staff monitoring the queue will also often 'flag' individuals for a more through search as they approach the door.

coconuttella · 05/04/2017 07:03

I can assure you they were doing their job properly

Tabasco. How on earth can you know this unless you were there?

Original poster
trinity0097 · 05/04/2017 07:39

Not sure where the students were checked, they were just allowed straight in.

OP posts:
TabascoToastie · 05/04/2017 13:03

coconuttella, I've worked with them for nine years and I know them extremely well, I know their work ethic and I also know the details of their working practises. With the best will in the world and with no disrespect to the OP, I feel better placed to judge my own co-workers than someone who interacted with them for seconds and doesn't know what their job is supposed to involve.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 05/04/2017 13:07

Hardly anyone at any tourist attractions/sports events seem to do a secure enough search, to me.

shirleycartersaidso · 05/04/2017 13:07

I used to have all my holidays in Belfast and got bags searched going into the shops. IMO if it does put one person off then its worth it.

Camomila · 05/04/2017 13:11

I find that the bag checks are more or less cursory depending on what you look like, I'm a pale white woman (now with baby) and get a cursory glance, dh (Asian) and dbro (dark Italian) always get a thorough look through.

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