Who do you think is in the wrong?

As Mrs T says, she was going through security not passport control so there was no requirement to show her face. Had the lady in question set off the alarms she’d have been taken to a private area and searched. Had a sikh wearing a turban gone through and set off the alarms the same would have happened to him. Just the same as anyone else who set of the alarm regardless of religious persuasion or attire. Whatever you think of it, their clothes are for religious reasons, his scarf isn’t.

It’s common knowledge that jokes and smartass comments as you go through passport control and security in any country don’t go down well. It’s unfortunate that he made his “joke” in front of a muslim (female) security guard who found it offensive…incidentally, the article I read about it yesterday (can’t locate it now) he said a lot more and the words he used were far more offensive than reported here, I suspect he toned it down a bit for the BBC. Regardless, the best course of action going through security is to keep it polite and courteous with no jokes.

It does seem to me that he’s making a mountain out of a molehill though…there isn’t a new Fireman Sam series or range of merchandise coming out soon is there?

If people can be asked to remove their crash helmets in the banks then surely everyone should have to have their face visible in airports bearing in mind there are serious terroist issues all over the world.

@j_in_france wrote:

if people choose to live in a different country should they not respect the historical views of the country they move to rather than trying to impose the views from where they originated – just a thought

Of course Christians have done that throughout history….

Ummm…the missionaries did not respect the historical views of the countries they moved to, they imposed their views, as have Christians throughout the ages.

And let’s not talk about how a lot of ex-pats behave when they move abroad…