4-Yea-Old Had His Nerf Gun Confiscated At Airport Because It Was Deemed ''Security Risk''

 

 

A four-year-old boy was frisked and had his plastic Nerf gun confiscated - because it was deemed a security risk.

Little James Hayward had arrived at East Midlands Airports with his parents, Phil, 44, and Hazel, 38, with his brightly coloured toy, which fires sponge darts, packed in his hand luggage.

 

The family were planning to fly to Lanzarote and had been queuing for over an hour and a half early on the morning on March 31 when they reached the front of the security check line.

 

But over-zealous security officers then took exception to James's harmless toy when it was picked up on the system's x-ray machines.

 

They demanded he hand it over, and they also performed a thorough patting down and inspection of the primary school child.

The £6 plastic gadget was described as a semi-automatic soft dart gun by its manufacturers, and James was bought a new one off eBay when the family returned from their holidays.

 

But dad Phil has labelled the security checks "ludicrous" and said the staff there need to loosen up.

 

Mr Hayward, a software engineer, said: "Fair enough they are thorough but it just seemed a bit ludicrous to take a plastic gun away from a four-year-old.

 

"We were so late by this point I didn't have time to stop and argue with them so we just had to leave it because we didn't want to miss our flight.

 

"I explained to James we would get him a new one when we got back from our holiday. We were going for 10 days in Lanzarote over Easter.

 

East Midlands Airport apologised for the inconvenience but pointed out they had offered to post the toy back to the family's home in Doncaster, South Yorks.

 

Defending the decision a spokeswoman said: "The safety and security of our passengers is our first priority and all regulations on security are set by the government.

 

"This regulation states that no items may be permitted through security that resemble a prohibited item."