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07 Feb 16
13:52
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28 Jun 10
As David Jones arrived at the security gates at Gatwick airport, he was looking forward to getting through swiftly so he could enjoy lunch with his daughters before their flight.
Placing his belongings, including a scarf, into a tray to pass through the X-ray scanner he spotted a Muslim woman in hijab pass through the area without showing her face.
In a light-hearted aside to a security official who had been assisting him, he said: “If I was wearing this scarf over my face, I wonder what would happen.”
The quip proved to be a mistake. After passing through the gates, he was confronted by staff and accused of racism.
As his daughters, who had passed through security, waited in the departure lounge wondering where he was, he was subjected to a one hour stand-off as officials tried to force him to apologise.
Mr Jones, 67, who is the creator of the popular children’s character Fireman Sam, said: “Something like George Orwell’s 1984 now seems to have arrived in Gatwick airport."
"I feel that my rights as an individual have been violated. What I underwent amounts to intimidation and detention. I was humiliated and degraded in full public view.
"I am a 67-year-old pensioner and have lived my life within the law. I do not have even one point on my driving licence.”
He said that when he made his initial remark the security guard had appeared to agree with him, saying: “I know what you mean, but we have our rules, and you aren’t allowed to say that.”
As he went through the metal detecting arch, his artificial hip set off the alarm, prompting a full search from a guard. It was after this, and as he prepared to rejoin his two grown-up daughters, that he was confronted by another guard who said he was being detained because he had made an offensive remark.
“I repeated to her what I had said and told her that I had said nothing racist,” he said. “She took my passport and boarding pass and I was then escorted back through the security zone into the outer area. Here the female security guard proceeded to question me further, inferring many things that I had not said.
“It was impossible to get her to listen to reason. We were then joined by a second female security guard who stated that she was Muslim and was deeply distressed by my comment.
“I again stated that I had not made a racist remark but purely an observation that we were in a maximum security situation being searched thoroughly whilst a woman with her face covered walked through. I made no reference to race or religion. I did not swear or raise my voice.”
According to Mr Jones, who was due to board a British Airways flight to Portugal, where he now lives and runs a restaurant on the Algarve, the British Airways duty manager was then called in and sided with the security staff.
He continued: “I had now been detained for some time and my daughters were worried, calling me on my phone asking what was happening. We were going around in circles. I maintained that I had said nothing offensive and the security guard was continuing to accuse me. This had taken about 15-20 minutes and looked as though it was not going to be resolved.
“I asked the security guard if she was going to charge me to which she said no but I could not leave until I had apologised to the Muslim guard.
“At this point I asked for the attendance of a police officer. After some time he arrived but it was also plainly evident that he was keeping to the politically correct code. I told him that if there was a case then he should arrest me.
“I was told that we now live in a different time and some things are not to be said. They decided again that I would only be allowed to continue on my journey if I were to apologise to the Muslim guard. My reply was that as I had not made a racist remark it would be impossible for me to apologise.”
Mr Jones, a former member of the Household Cavalry and retired fireman, added: “I felt that I made a logical observation. That while everyone was being subjected to an invasive search it was illogical that someone should be let through with their face covered. I am not opposed to having this level of security but it must be equal for all.”
Staggering.
Placing his belongings, including a scarf, into a tray to pass through the X-ray scanner he spotted a Muslim woman in hijab pass through the area without showing her face.
In a light-hearted aside to a security official who had been assisting him, he said: “If I was wearing this scarf over my face, I wonder what would happen.”
The quip proved to be a mistake. After passing through the gates, he was confronted by staff and accused of racism.
As his daughters, who had passed through security, waited in the departure lounge wondering where he was, he was subjected to a one hour stand-off as officials tried to force him to apologise.
Mr Jones, 67, who is the creator of the popular children’s character Fireman Sam, said: “Something like George Orwell’s 1984 now seems to have arrived in Gatwick airport."
"I feel that my rights as an individual have been violated. What I underwent amounts to intimidation and detention. I was humiliated and degraded in full public view.
"I am a 67-year-old pensioner and have lived my life within the law. I do not have even one point on my driving licence.”
He said that when he made his initial remark the security guard had appeared to agree with him, saying: “I know what you mean, but we have our rules, and you aren’t allowed to say that.”
As he went through the metal detecting arch, his artificial hip set off the alarm, prompting a full search from a guard. It was after this, and as he prepared to rejoin his two grown-up daughters, that he was confronted by another guard who said he was being detained because he had made an offensive remark.
“I repeated to her what I had said and told her that I had said nothing racist,” he said. “She took my passport and boarding pass and I was then escorted back through the security zone into the outer area. Here the female security guard proceeded to question me further, inferring many things that I had not said.
“It was impossible to get her to listen to reason. We were then joined by a second female security guard who stated that she was Muslim and was deeply distressed by my comment.
“I again stated that I had not made a racist remark but purely an observation that we were in a maximum security situation being searched thoroughly whilst a woman with her face covered walked through. I made no reference to race or religion. I did not swear or raise my voice.”
According to Mr Jones, who was due to board a British Airways flight to Portugal, where he now lives and runs a restaurant on the Algarve, the British Airways duty manager was then called in and sided with the security staff.
He continued: “I had now been detained for some time and my daughters were worried, calling me on my phone asking what was happening. We were going around in circles. I maintained that I had said nothing offensive and the security guard was continuing to accuse me. This had taken about 15-20 minutes and looked as though it was not going to be resolved.
“I asked the security guard if she was going to charge me to which she said no but I could not leave until I had apologised to the Muslim guard.
“At this point I asked for the attendance of a police officer. After some time he arrived but it was also plainly evident that he was keeping to the politically correct code. I told him that if there was a case then he should arrest me.
“I was told that we now live in a different time and some things are not to be said. They decided again that I would only be allowed to continue on my journey if I were to apologise to the Muslim guard. My reply was that as I had not made a racist remark it would be impossible for me to apologise.”
Mr Jones, a former member of the Household Cavalry and retired fireman, added: “I felt that I made a logical observation. That while everyone was being subjected to an invasive search it was illogical that someone should be let through with their face covered. I am not opposed to having this level of security but it must be equal for all.”
Staggering.
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Replies: 31
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His only crime is he lives in a country full of cowardly bullies and like all cowards they only pick on people that can't or won't fight back. It's to make themselves feel better about their inadequate self.
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this country is on the brink of meltdown but our so called leaders seem to live outside of the real world it can only end very badly
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A lamentable situation - but the story is four years old.
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It still deserves a wider audience to demonstrate the stupidity of our society on such issues. The crusades happened hundreds of years ago but we keep on having to listen to that rubbish too.
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'I am sorry you find my comments offensive'
would have been enough to free up this situation had he used his noggin. |
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is there a punchline to this story?
what was the outcome of the woman in the hijab |
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He got away with Fireman Sam sliding down a pole every week.
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This country is a pressure cooker waiting to explode, its the same for many european countries, our only salvation is to pull out the EU, even then it may not be enough,,, and when it explodes our glorious leaders will be long gone
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k untree is finnish
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 Crisp |
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By Christ (sorry Allah too) I seriously despair!
Some of us are fortunate in living where we could pretend there is no problem. In a way I'm glad I lived my own time slot that, aside from austerity following World War 2, has been for the most part happy days. What I fear for is the future of my family because it ain't going to get better! |
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I didn't know it was an older news story Gin. It was in the paper today. Does its age affect how people should feel about what happened to him or the mass hysteria exhibited by these public servants which you may be forgiven for thinking is endemic?
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No - Just pointing out the fact that it is an old story. As I said, it's a lamentable situation.......
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Were the security guards there to check that people were not bringing weapons on to aircraft, or were they there to check if people were acting in a politically correct manner?
That is the problem with uniforms. They give people power over everything. Disagree or do something unrelated to their job and they misuse the powers of their job to abuse people. |
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And every non muslim involved too scared to speak out for fear of being branded a racist.
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"To discover who rules over you, simply find out who you cannot criticise." Voltaire.
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"To discover who rules over you, simply find out who you cannot criticise."
That's a really good quote. What's the other one attributed to him again? "I dislike what you say as it's not PC, and will shaft you with all available measures until you conform. I'm off to start a petition with my twitter mates to get you hung." I think. |
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Very disturbing story on the facts presented above but could have been extenuating circumstances such as his attitude, demeanour and vociferousness.
Quite right to detain him if he was being arsey as he could have been disruptive on the flight. Would be informative to know under which legal provision he was detained if an "apology" was all that was necessary for his release. |
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He didn't apologise. As the police officer said he didn't break any law and couldn't be charged. They just seemed to want to inconvenience the fella because they could and they didn't like what he said.
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This is a veritable 'Rosa Parks' case, set in an airport rather than on a bus.
All he wanted was to have security applied EQUALLY without fear or favour. It wasn't and he was inexplicably accused of racism. (Needless to say, the 'race' wasn't identified by the accusers). |
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I might try going through with a crash helmet on next time and I haven't even got a motorbike.
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You'll get 6 months in the Big House for that you reprobate, But I'll be sure to look after Rocco's Niece in the meantime, so no worries there. |
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I'll leave a mouse trap in there before I go you cad.
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Seeing the name David Jones has brought back sad memories of the passing of Bowie four weeks ago
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It's does sound a rather odd account and one quite likely simply to furnish a narrative.
Clouseau is quite right, I'd have loved to have known under which precedent simply appologising would have rectified the 'problem' As with most things the truth gets washed down river between differing points of view. |
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Its Rotherham syndrome.
When the police in Rotherham found an 11 year old girl in bed with a 29 year old man of an " Asian background " they arrested the 11 year old for drunkeness. Its also a way of kowtowing the indigenous people of Britain. |
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Would be interested to hear the account of this story as told by the Airport staff.
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That sensitive security guard who demanded the apology is typical.
These Muslims have hair trigger sensitivity over words but this sensitivity flies out the window when it comes to the beheading of some orange clad infidels,is nowhere to be seen when some young rape victim is being stoned to death. |
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I'm surprised that the airport security staff have got so much time on their hands that they can spend it on trivia such as this.
Sounds like they're overstaffed. I wonder if any warnings about wasting time were handed out? |
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The metal detectors are set to go off at random, Once every 8-9 passes,
in Reality, 50 People could walk through without setting it off, And the staff would have Nothing to do, so it has the random setting. |