[UK sucks due to terrorism again] Transformers shirt = no plane entry

[D-Fence]

ransformers shirt gets jet ban

By ANDY CRICK

Published: Today
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AIRPORT guards stopped a man boarding a plane — for wearing a Transformers T-shirt showing a cartoon gun.

Brad Jayakody, 30, was shocked when he was told to change his top if he wanted to catch his flight from Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

IT consultant Brad — on a British Airways trip with four colleagues to Dusseldorf, Germany — asked to see the security chief.

He thought the boss would "see sense" — but he backed up the decision and threatened him with ARREST. Aussie-born Brad said: "My mate set off the alarms and was searched.

"But then the guy told me to stop and said ‘you cannot get on the plane because there is a gun on your T-shirt’." The top has the Transformers film character Optimus Prime on the front.

Brad, of Bayswater, West London, added: "It’s a cartoon robot with a gun as an arm. What was I going to do, use the shirt to pretend I have a gun?

"I was flabbergasted. I thought the supervisor would come over and see sense, but he didn’t. After I changed he said if I changed back I would be arrested."

A spokesman for Heathrow operator BAA said: "If a T-shirt had a rude word or a bomb on it for example, a passenger may be asked to remove it.

"We are investigating what happened to see if it came under this category."

Last year Gatwick guards made a woman hand over a beef sandwich before boarding and last week a PhD student was stopped for wearing a gun-shaped charm necklace at an airport in Canada.

UK is getting worse than the US......srsly.

[Lilleput]

England, from the rest of us in the EU, please gtfo! You're making us look bad

[IceBone]

I want to fly to the US wearing a t-shirt with the US constitution, translated into arabic on it.

[airmenair]

Just when I thought the world couldn't get any crazier this pops up. Wonder what will happen tomorrow...

[anti-net]

oh for fuck sake.....I'll take one plain white t-shirt and a flight out of here!

EDIT: "Heathrow’s Terminal 5" - Oh...now it makes sense, Heathrow is fucked up on many many many levels

[Night_Hawk]

There is no danger in that shirt

law makes no sense

/thread

and I don't usually do a /thread

[Speedtouch]

Originally Posted by anti-net

EDIT: "Heathrow’s Terminal 5" - Oh...now it makes sense, Heathrow is fucked up on many many many levels

Oh yeah. That place is real fucked up. Hey, I'm going there in a couple of months! I'll have to see how bad it is (albeit from the arrivals area - only picking up sister from gap year travels).

And seriously. It just makes me want to shoot the security people in the face. Really. Its so annoying that the nanny state has managed to get so far without someone complaining about human rights.

[avanti]

what I wouldn't give to turn back the hands of time to 1965...

[Whappeh]

Originally Posted by avanti

what I wouldn't give to turn back the hands of time to 1965...

Fuck, you don't even have to go that far back. 1999 still made sense.

[Firecat]

I'm gonna side with airport security on this one. I can understand why they don't want images of weapons.

Plus the guy looks suspicious.

[Lilleput]

Originally Posted by Firecat

Plus the guy looks suspicious.

He's not pale so he's clearly a terrist..

[Ford Prefect]

what the fuck, seriously... about a year ago I decided it was time to move again, and was very close to going to the UK, had spots at universities and everything... boy am I glad I ended up staying in autobahnland...

I mean, if some US customs guy stops you because you´re wearing a shirt with arabic writing on it, you could put him in the category of someone primitive with little education trying to do his job the way he thinks it should be done, and perhaps even laugh about it once it´s all over. But not being let onto a plane for having a gun on your t-shirt? Gimme a break, that´s so random that I can´t even begin to try and understand why anyone would do it... It´s just so immensely stupid, I´m barely prepared to believe it actually happened.

Whatever happened to focusing all available resources to stop people who are actually dangerous? If I had been behind this guy in the cue it would have made me extremely angry that these security people are wasting their time with stuff like this, rather than making absolutely sure no one gets on my plane with something he can actually do some damage with.

So brits, please don´t take it personal, you used to be one of the coolest countries in europe in your own special way. But it appears that you have now just become extremely gay in many many ways, and I´m not just talking about this thread...

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Firecat

I'm gonna side with airport security on this one. I can understand why they don't want images of weapons.

Plus the guy looks suspicious.

Are you serious?!?! How can that shirt or my GnR shirt possibly offend someone?

[Lilleput]

They apparently draw the line at Proton cannons..

[syncview]

chickens!

[Firecat]

Originally Posted by avanti

Are you serious?!?! How can that shirt or my GnR shirt possibly offend someone?

They probably don't want people wearing certain images of weapons, like bombs. It's a blanket policy, so unfortunately it would cover a GnR or transformers shirt, as above. I think it should be handled like this...

1. Supervisor called - Assess the situation. In the case of the above shirts, say it's okay. Or tell the person to...

2. Change into something else.

This is the current climate, they don't want people joking around about certain things either. Sure it's not harmful...but it's not that big of a deal either.

We may roll our eyes at these rules, but it's not necessary to get our panties in a twist over them.

They are still making people take off their shoes. And I'm more worried about what's going on in the other thread regarding searching laptops and MP3 players.

[Ford Prefect]

Originally Posted by Firecat

but it's not that big of a deal either.

I disagree, I know it´s been 7 years, and I know nothing big has happened since then, but I think that mucking about with meaningless crap like this is the reason why people have managed to board planes with carpet knives. And if harmless people run into problems because they happen to be wearing their bomberman shirt, then the terrorists have won. If the shirt disturbs some anal old lady´s peace of mind, then so be it, it´s not gonna bring the plane down any sooner than planned.