Businessman detained at Gatwick Airport for wearing Bollocks to Brexit badge
UK Border Agency officer checking a passport in the North Terminal of Gatwick Airport, Sussex. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA Wire. - Credit: PA
A businessman has been detained at Gatwick Airport for refusing to remove a Bollocks to Brexit badge when asked to do so by a member of staff at passport control.
Eddie Brinsmead-Stockham said he was left feeling 'very frightened' after he was then detained at the airport by Border Force.
Brinsmead-Stockham, from Surrey, had been visiting Portugal when he returned back in the country through Gatwick's north terminal.
He claims that he waited 10 minutes after his refusal to remove the badge before a second official returned his passport and allowed him to leave.
An official claimed that that the badge had to be removed on security grounds - because the member of the public risked being assaulted because of what he was wearing.
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Speaking to BBC News, Brinsmead-Stockham said: 'I had never encountered that sort of belligerence at passport control before. I felt very frightened.'
A Home Office spokesman said that they were aware of the claim from the member of public and that they are 'taking this matter seriously'.
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They said that they were continuing to investigate the complaint.
It follows news that a Remainer returning from the People's Vote march was told by a Virgin Trains staff member to throw his pro-EU t-shirt in the bin, and an opera singer being told to remove a 'provocative' blue and yellow dress ahead of a concert.
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