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Man arrested for leaving a teddybear in airport lounge for a cigarette
- Thread starter Giaguara
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Sad that its come to this....
I'd rather a fine than a jail sentence, myself. If you forget the bag, you're negligent, so write them up.
Sheesh....
D
I'd rather a fine than a jail sentence, myself. If you forget the bag, you're negligent, so write them up.
Sheesh....
D
Pathetic, govt gone awry. meanwhile they still let millions of mexicans and whoever just walk in to the country but an american with a teddy bear gets arrested for getting a smoke. pathetic. maybe instead of making every american guilty they shouldnt let the real terrorist into the country.
weak-sauce.
yes, the guy broke a rule. no, there was no intent to do anything wrong at all. give him a fine and cut him some slack. stupid trying to make an example out of him...
just wait, though. next he will sue the tobacco companies for this since his addiction caused these problems. and he opted out of the previous settlements.
yes, the guy broke a rule. no, there was no intent to do anything wrong at all. give him a fine and cut him some slack. stupid trying to make an example out of him...
just wait, though. next he will sue the tobacco companies for this since his addiction caused these problems. and he opted out of the previous settlements.
I guess Bin Laden can go ahead and scrap the rampaging robot teddy bear plan he was working on. We're obviously ready for that one. This is great. I mean, we're on such a roll. We've disarmed all the knitting needle assassins and foiled the felonious flying fingernail filers. I'd say we're safe now.
I think what the authorites are trying to do is pretty good; I'm glad that guy got throne in jail for it. Although I do think it should be a longer sentance, 10 days really isn't enough; he should have to pay a hefty fine too. I can understand how everybody would think that this is terrible 'man throne in jail for leaving teddybear in airport lounge,' but you also forget to mention that the 'innocent' teddybear might also contain C4, or some other type of explosive. The man dissrupted thousands, if not tens-of-thousands of peple lives. I'd be really cheesed off if somebody got me stuck in an airport overnight because of their ignorance.
oh, BTW, we should shut down the borders, there are WAY to many illegal immagrants.
oh, BTW, we should shut down the borders, there are WAY to many illegal immagrants.
If you don't enforce the rules/policies, what's the point in having them? The stupid dude should have just brought his bag with him. He broke the rules, so he pays the penalty.
If he used an interprete to talk, he did not speak enough English to understand everything written or spoken around him.
If it is your first time in UK (or USA for that matter), and you don't understand the language, .. would the airline have had to tell him that when he is in UK he can't leave his baggage not even for 30 seconds, in his language? If you travel inside EU, there is no law to force you to buy a turist guide where they might explain things like that. IF you understand English, you hear all the time in the airports, train and coach stations (in UK) to not leave your baggage unattended. UK has MANY people, it makes sense. IT is not possible to make the announcements in EVERY Euro and other language. So - when visiting UK (or USA) it is your responsability to know English? And similarly when we go to countries where they speak Hindi, Urdu, Finnish, Icelandic etc, it is our fault as we can't udnerstand what we hear?
In Italy ALL the train etc announcements are only in Italian. The only exemption is airports (English too). UK, at least Birmingham is all-English only. So - if you are visiting Italy and take a train - there is clearly written in Italian that you need to stamp your ticket before you get to train. If anyone fails to do so, they get a ticket. Even when the ticket would have enough space to have the infos printed in English, Spanish and French, if you just don't understand the local language, your fault - get fined. (unless the ticket controllor looses his minds as you fail to communicate in any language..)
If it is your first time in UK (or USA for that matter), and you don't understand the language, .. would the airline have had to tell him that when he is in UK he can't leave his baggage not even for 30 seconds, in his language? If you travel inside EU, there is no law to force you to buy a turist guide where they might explain things like that. IF you understand English, you hear all the time in the airports, train and coach stations (in UK) to not leave your baggage unattended. UK has MANY people, it makes sense. IT is not possible to make the announcements in EVERY Euro and other language. So - when visiting UK (or USA) it is your responsability to know English? And similarly when we go to countries where they speak Hindi, Urdu, Finnish, Icelandic etc, it is our fault as we can't udnerstand what we hear?
In Italy ALL the train etc announcements are only in Italian. The only exemption is airports (English too). UK, at least Birmingham is all-English only. So - if you are visiting Italy and take a train - there is clearly written in Italian that you need to stamp your ticket before you get to train. If anyone fails to do so, they get a ticket. Even when the ticket would have enough space to have the infos printed in English, Spanish and French, if you just don't understand the local language, your fault - get fined.
(unless the ticket controllor looses his minds as you fail to communicate in any language..)
Wasn't the bomb at the end of Collateral Damage hidden in a Teddy Bear? Maybe the security guys at the airport need new training videos.
Hemingray said:Yet another by-product of terrorism. Thanks a lot. Truly sad.
A byproduct of human stupidity is more like it. If the guy's inside the terminal, then his bag has been scanned and probably searched (as mine almost always are). If that isn't enough for you, then don't fly.
Someone who has the resources to get a bomb through an x-ray scanner and the cool to bluff the guards isn't going to be deterred by the idea that someone might possible send him to jail for leaving his bag. Besides, that's one of the leas efficient ways to cause an explosion. The quantity you could smuggle through is so negligable that you'd basically be carrying a few firecrackers.
Yet another example of "zero tolerance" policies resulting in an innocent being terrorized. We're doing it to ourselves, and the real terrorists don't even have to try anymore. They've won.
Face it, America (and everyone else). Each time you do something like this, the terrorists win another victory. Each time you change the way you live your life, they've won, because you aren't living as freely as you did before. Congratulations.
I'm so proud to be a part of a culture that would encourage the idea of stupid enforcement of an already idiotic law, rather than having the sense to just live our lives. You can't terrorize a populace that refuses to be afraid. Too bad nobody in my country wants to even remotely pretend that these measures are just handholding and making a show, rather than real security.
Giaguara said:
No, but it is your responsibility to know the laws of that nation. Sure, jail time is severe, but, as kingjr3 pointed out, there's not much sense in having the rule if it's not going to be enforced.
Others have mentioned bombs and explosions. What about gas? Last I heard, it doesn't take up much volume.
It seems like I'm in the minority here, but I bet people would be yelling and screaming at airport security if a small teddy bear blew up or emitted poisonous gas.
Squire
<edit>
It's too bad that the guy has to do 10 days in the slammer for what was, obviously, a stupid mistake. However, it seems that Portugal has the same rule. I got the following info from the Lisbon Airport website:
Warning:
While at the Terminal, under no circumstances leave your baggage unattended;
Never "do anyone a favour" by carrying items belonging to strangers in your luggage.
Those two rules were the only ones in bold on their site. Here's the link:
http://www.ana-aeroportos.pt/ANAIngles/Lisboa/Guia+do+Viajante/Guia_Viajante.htm
while i understand that the guy was very stupid, it can happen to anyone. even you. the guy was already through security! they obviously need to step up the security at the x-ray machines if the staff are still scared ****less by something like this. why can't they just put the damn bag through a scanner, or use a wand over it or something? rather than wait hours for the bomb disposal and the army to sort this **** out. it's pathetic.
admittedly it was a surprise to hear this was England, and not the U.S. but it just proves to me that I have no reason to move back home. it's as bad as the States, in so many ways. and it does not have as many good points.
just fine the guy. 10 days in jail? no wonder the ****ing place is a target for terrorism, but as someone said, they've already won.
people need to grow some ****ing balls.
admittedly it was a surprise to hear this was England, and not the U.S. but it just proves to me that I have no reason to move back home. it's as bad as the States, in so many ways. and it does not have as many good points.
just fine the guy. 10 days in jail? no wonder the ****ing place is a target for terrorism, but as someone said, they've already won.
people need to grow some ****ing balls.
I don't understand this obsession with airport security. I mean, what are the odds that terrorists will attack in exactly the same way again? The aim of terrorism is to terrorize -- if you live in perpetual anticipation of disaster, you are terrorizing yourself, without their even having to do anything.
The odds of anything bad happening, even with NO security are miniscule -- The planes that were involved in the whole Sept. 11 disaster were four planes out of hundreds of millions of flights that went to their destination with no problems at all.
Since we have procedures now for when flights lose contact or go off course to prevent damage, virtually all of our new airport security measures accomplish absolutely nothing except arresting guys like this who pose no threat at all.
The odds of anything bad happening, even with NO security are miniscule -- The planes that were involved in the whole Sept. 11 disaster were four planes out of hundreds of millions of flights that went to their destination with no problems at all.
Since we have procedures now for when flights lose contact or go off course to prevent damage, virtually all of our new airport security measures accomplish absolutely nothing except arresting guys like this who pose no threat at all.
musicpyrite said:
I totally agree with you on closing the borders. Sadly the public will not allow this measure to be taken until Al Qaeda attacks us on our soil again. At that point I think that President Bush will have the mandate to do what needs to be done to make us safe. Our borders including air, land, and sea.
wdlove said:I totally agree with you on closing the borders. Sadly the public will not allow this measure to be taken until Al Qaeda attacks us on our soil again. At that point I think that President Bush will have the mandate to do what needs to be done to make us safe. Our borders including air, land, and sea.
Surely then the terrorists have won by stopping peoples normal lives? Do you really think all the problems come from ease of travel? You seem to forget that anyone who lives in America can do as much damage as someone that flies/sails/drives in.
When the IRA were blowing up various places here in the UK was it proposed to close the borders to all Irish people/people with an accent/anyone with a Irish sounding surname/people wearing green and so on? No, and rightly so because it is a ridiculous idea!
The world is a global community remember. Yes, obviously we need to keep the people known/likely to pose a threat out (or preferably in prison) but you can't stop the other millions of people who want to travel to do this.
True story of the day:
I saw some lady in an SUV come within inches of smashing into someone's mailbox on the right-hand side of the road....while making a left turn! Don't even ask how that's possible!