You are reading a single comment by @serk and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@serk
I don't get how you got charged with Loitering Paul. Was it an actual charge? Or just a reason for taking details? Mine said "No Offense" or something in that category. I thought they were simply able to stop and take information on anyone in the airport.
It went down basically as Tommy described it. On our cycle into Gatwick we were stopped by police. When we explained what we were doing they said they'd call it in and possibly meet us in the airport. When we got to the top of the elevator we were met by about 10 airport security/police officers who said we would not be allowed to use the facillities.
When we said, "okay, we'll leave" they said that we would not be able to leave until they had taken everyone's details. This took about 30 minutes of standing around waiting for them to get information on everyone. The whole process was absurd. The girls wanted to use the toilet and they refused to be reasonable. Fred decided to argue with an officer for a laugh (it was pretty funny).
Apparently they thought we could have been eco-terrorists. If they let the girls run to the toilet then they'd be exposing the airport to a threat. Escorts were not an option...