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Man threatened with arrest at Heathrow for wearing Transformers T-shirt
Last updated at 14:04pm on 02.06.08
An airline passenger claimed that a security guard threatened to arrest him because he was wearing a T-shirt showing a cartoon robot with a gun.
Brad Jayakody, 30, from London, said he was stopped from passing through security at Heathrow's Terminal 5 after his Transformers T-shirt was deemed 'offensive.'
The IT consultant was set to fly off on a business trip to Dusseldorf in Germany when he was pulled to one side.
Brad Jayakody wearing the Transformers T-shift which caused offence at Heathrow
Mr Jayakody said the first guard started joking with him about the Transformers character depicted on his French Connection T-shirt.
'"Then he explains that since Megatron is holding a gun, I'm not allowed to fly,' he said.
'It's a 40ft tall cartoon robot with a gun as an arm. There is no way this shirt is offensive in any way, and what I'm going to use the shirt to pretend I have a gun?
He was cooperative with the supervisor and took off the the 'offensive' T-shirt, replacing it with another shirt in his carry on luggage.
A spokesman for Heathrow operator BAA said: 'If a T-shirt had a rude word or a bomb on it, for example, a passenger may be asked to remove it.
'We are investigating what happened to see if it came under this category.
'If it's offensive, we don't want other passengers upset.'
He said there was no record of the incident and the passenger 'certainly didn't make a formal complaint at the time.'
The Optimus Prime character on Mr Jayakody's T-shirt is the most well known of the series
Reader views (18)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
I m more interested in why a 30 year old man is wearing a transformer t-shirt to begin with?
- Rene Orillac, Texas
Why is our right to be offended being infringed?
- Fishizzle, Ames, USA
He keeps saying Megatron when it is Optimus Prime. Does he even know what shirt he is wearing?
- M. Corvin, Tulsa, USA
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