Airport staff ‘humiliated’ traveller with body searches
Man makes police complaint after ‘treatment’ at Edinburgh Airport
A businessman has complained to police after he was made to feel “intimidated and humiliated” by security staff at Edinburgh Airport.
Mark Merley, 62, from Glasgow, claims to have been victimised by staff members, whom he says singled him out for special treatment for their amusement.
He said he was subjected to a search on 25 June that included a member of the security team twice putting both their hands down his trousers.
A flabbergasted Mr Merley said he tried several times to make an official complaint, but said staff were not willing to speak with him. When he then asked who the owner of the airport was, he was told to “Google it”.
Mr Merley said his trip to Vienna with his fiancee was “ruined before it had even started” following the harrowing ordeal.
He said: “There was a huge queue and the woman at the section with the trays looked and sounded very bored. I said to her that it was not a good system they were running. She responded to say the system was fine and then all of a sudden she said out loud ‘I need someone to search this one’.
“This is before I had even got to the scanner. I was rushed through the machine, which flagged up I still had a belt on. I had the handheld scanner before I was assaulted by the security staff.
“The woman actually fol- lowed me down to watch me and had a big grin on her face. She was clearly enjoying seeing me being humiliated.
“You usually get a search at the top of your trousers using a thumb and the hand on the outside. No, this man did the opposite and had his hand down my trousers going over my public area and bum.
“Then to make matters worse he did it again. It was absolutely outrageous. The woman was a troublemaker. She identified someone to intimidate and humiliate them. It looked like they were bored and needed some fun.”
The alleged incident comes after The Scotsman published a letter from Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar calling for passengers to “hold us to task when we’ve fallen short”. Other passengers have also raised concerns over service.
Mr Merley insisted staff had not handled the situation with integrity and said he was angry he was forced to call the airport’s media team as a last resort to make an official complaint.
An Edinburgh Airport spokesman confirmed it was investigating a complaint from Mr Merley and would take “any necessary action”.