Airport made me feel like a criminal

IT IS with dismay I read a letter in the 17 May Press, Over the top security, as I had the same experience recently and was left unsatisfied with the response of your security people when I queried and made recommendations on how to improve the process, which I can see have obviously been ignored.

I was also dismayed with part of your response suggesting the lady in question was in need of special assistance, as you obviously do not understand what it is like to experience such treatment, which I will outline below.

I was stopped a few weeks ago in the security search area of Guernsey Airport, all my liquids were in my checked in luggage and electronic items taken out and put in a tray. The woman at security asked to check my handbag, and to my dismay and distress started taking every single item out of my handbag, poking and prodding items contained in plastic, including sanitary items and very private medication with a visible name on it. When I tried to look in my bag to see what personal items were remaining and ask her not to display them in public, she physically removed my hands from the bag, which made me feel like a criminal.

I felt humiliated that some of my most private items in my personal handbag were on public display for all to see, and was given no option to have this done in private, so I can well understand the distress of the lady who wrote the letter to the Guernsey Press.

Like her I have travelled through numerous airports and have not experienced anything like this, and I have carried the same bag through Guernsey Airport security over several years without such treatment. Has your policy recently changed?

I also commented on the hygiene aspect of having your personal items on a tray that people have put all their outerwear on, indeed the person next to me was removing their shoes from their tray.

I suggested that separate trays be used to the supervisor, who said they had no room for them; another suggestion from my husband was that they line the tray with a cloth. It was obvious from the supervisor’s response that they had no intention of improving the process, which is evidenced by this lady’s recent experience.

Just after security, another passenger came up to me and said they had the same experience recently and how uncomfortable it was.

This is not an isolated incident and I would like to hear some positive suggestions from yourselves on how this can be improved, without suggesting that passengers like myself and the lady who wrote the letter are in need of special assistance to deal with such an unpleasant experience that you have put in place.

JOHANNA

St Peter Port.