Man stopped at Heathrow for Transformers t-shirt Cartoon robot with gun deemed "offensive"

  • rss
  • pdf
  • share
  • save
  • email
  • print
Gallery

2 June 2008 13:45 GMT / By Katie Scott

Uk tabloid, the Daily Mail, reports that an unsuspecting airline passenger got on the wrong side of the security at Heathrow's notorious Terminal 5 because of his Transformers t-shirt.

Brad Jayakody, who is 30-years-old and from London, was stopped as he went through security to board a flight to Dusseldorf in Germany.

The IT consultant said that the security guard pulled him to one side and first was jokey as he pointed to Jayakody's t-shirt, which shows a cartoon of the Transformers character Megatron.

However, the guard then explained that because the character on the French Connection tee is holding a gun, Jayakody would not be allowed to fly until he removed it.

Jayakody told the newspaper: "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?"

However, he swapped his t-shirt and was let onto his flight.

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."

Jayakody did not make a formal complaint.

Related links



Comments

  • Good! He deserved it. What sort of man aged 30 wears a t-shirt deinsged for 8 year old boys? In the picture the t-shirt is being strecthed in all sorts of directions - yuck.

    Posted by 1865, UK
  • This is a pretty funny incident, and definitely an overreaction on the part of BAA. p.s. I'd wear the t-shirt proudly as a Transformers fan and i'm 31, so there. Probably fit me a little better tho :-p Posted by rawse, England
  • Looks more like Optimus Prime to me :-) Posted by JP, Ireland
  • I've got that t-shirt and it can only be offensive to Decepticons... simple.

    Plus just for the person that replied 1st, you can't get it in kids sizes, i've tried getting it for my little brother (who happens to be 8) it goes up to xxl in mens sizes if you need it but mines a medium.

    It IS Optimus Prime by the way.
    Posted by Dan Lane, UK
  • I want that t-shirt with added sign that says "HEATROW INCOMPATIBLE" Ha ha ha. Posted by stunty, CZ
  • I'll learn from others and not wear my T-shirt that says:

    Front: "Bomb disposal expert"
    Back: "If you see me running,try and keep up"
    Posted by Scrutinizer, Sussex

(Will not be published)

  (Next time sign in to bypass ReCaptcha)

Latest in Gadgets

Latest on Pocket-lint.co.uk

Top products

Top 10 Broadband

Compare 50+
broadband packages

Home Broadband »
Movember

Vodafone Pocket-lint Gadget Awards

Pocket-lint.co.uk poll

Q. In terms of search engines, does voice technology interest you?

Vote YES Vote NO

» LAST TIME
When asked Do you own a netbook? 40% said yes and 60% said no