$300 figurine “a threat to security”: Gatwick Airport
A Canadian tourist leaving Gatwick Airport in England says a toy-sized solider figurine was taken away from her by security because it featured a 10-cm-long replica rifle. “They told me it was a gun and that I was not allowed to take it on the plane,” Julie Lloyd, a 60-year-old Oakville, Ont. woman told the National Post. A security supervisor concurred that it was a threat and suggested she mail the $300 souvenir back to Canada instead. When the slit in the airport’s post boxes proved too small for the parcel, one of the security officials offered to mail it from a post office later in the day. She accepted, but is now calling for better training of airport staff.