Bikers can’t cover up so burkas in question

THE unnecessarily emotive subject of the Islamic veil ignores a point about freedom which should be included.

I am a biker. I wear a helmet because the law says I must, and in really bad weather I might wear a full-face helmet. You’ve seen them: there’s a chin bar and a visor.

If I pop into my bank, even with the visor up so that my eyes can be seen, the staff will refuse to serve me until I remove my helmet. I understand this, so don’t complain.

If I am pulled over by the police, I am instructed to remove my lid so they can see my face. Furthermore, I would not be allowed through passport control without removing my helmet, and because of the image which the popular caricature of bikers provides, I must expect to get a thorough going-over with regard to my luggage and clothing.

There are many more bikers in Britain than burka/niqab-wearers. Three years ago there were around one and a half million motorbikes registered and on the road in Britain, while there are fewer than 2,000 burka-wearers, so how is it so hard for a Muslim lass to simply remove her face covering in a bank, or court, or anywhere else where the rest of us need to be bare-faced? (The veil is not compulsory.)

P.S. Before anyone calls me a racist, my better half is Muslim, I have Muslim nephews and nieces, my family is Anglo-Pakistani, and I was married to a Pakistani Christian lass for 25 years. Pete Sunman Cardiff