Letter: Islay security a tourist hazard

I HAD a real chuckle at your article on the ridiculous overbearing security at Islay’s airport and giggled at the thought of evacuations and road closures when passengers dare to attempt to travel with a dangerous box of eggs or a suspicious laptop.

I can comment from experience following a long weekend family break on that beautiful island three years ago. Having checked in all our cases for the return flight, our adult son and his girlfriend were called back by a stern announcer, and had to empty the entire contents of their bags to reveal the threat of a paperback novel!

On submitting our hand luggage, my daughter and I were ordered in a most officious manner to stand aside while all other passengers were ushered slowly on – most embarrassing. One at a time we then had to empty the entire contents of our bags to have every item scrutinised in detail. Even my tube of toothpaste was taken away to be scanned, presumably for the semtex hidden inside. If you have any knowledge of the innermost dark corners of a 24-year-olds’ weekend bag you will appreciate that the search took quite a long time and in fact caused the plane to depart late.

At the time I didn’t know whether to laugh in disbelief or throw a teenage-style wobbly. I settled for being quietly furious. However once my anger had subsided I then wondered how a foreign once-in-a-lifetime visitor to the island would react to such treatment and concluded that they would feel disturbed and unwelcome. This is not an image of Scotland we wish to portray.

As a well-travelled Scot, I have the utmost respect for the security personnel whose responsibility is to keep us safe and to reduce the threat to society of the narcotics trade. However, in the interests of the folk of Islay and the wider community I would like to add my support for the reigning-in or the re-training of the airport staff in the hope that they may carry out their duties with the politeness and authority of human beings rather than with the mindless control of overzealous automatons.

Linda Lawson, via email