security measures

With a huge dose of "you really couldn't make it up" I recount a tale that was told to me by a friend (who understandably doesn't want me to reveal his identity) about how he renewed his passport at short notice. Apart from the issue of the passport office not seeming to understand that people who live in other countries may not be able to fluently communicate in English his experience while visiting the office was bewildering.

As he alighted from the train in London he realised that he had a very sharp knife in his pocket. This is not unusual for him as he uses it for work. With the heightened security measures that have become associated with travelling and government buildings he was starting to worry that this might cause him problems and he approached the passport office with a certain amount of trepidation.

He arrived at the entrance to the building and there were the predictable metal detectors with the associated scanners for individual's tray of metallic items. Fearing that he would be delayed by security and preparing himself to ask them to confiscate his knife for the duration of his visit he drops all of his metallic items on to the tray and stepped through the metal detector. Then picked up all of his items without question and continued inside for his appointment.

Yes you did read that correctly. He removed a concealed knife, passed it through the security check, re-concealed it then went to a meeting in a government building without trying to hide the fact that he had a potentially dangerous weapon on him. It makes you wonder why they bother with security checks at all, doesn't it?


UPDATE: The central character of this tale contacted me and offered this

I never ever walk anywhere with any sense of trepidation as that is a quick way of getting noticed. I decided that when they spotted it, I would ask them to look after it.

Well that's me told then :D