Man with arthritis quits flying over airport security 'embarrassment'

A man with five metal joint implants has decided to give up flying - because he can't bear the embarrassment of airport security alarms setting off every time he passes through them.

As well as the fact he gets "pulled to pieces" by airport security, Roger Hickford, 71, of Maldon, Essex, says the "painful" wait in queues means he can no longer face flying.

According to the report in the BBC, Mr Hickford, who has replacement joints in his hips, knees and shoulders, has now even cancelled a flight to Australia to see his son in Adelaide.

Mr Hickford and his wife, Rose, also love travelling to Turkey, but say the experience is worse at foreign airports, with the added frustration of the language barrier.

A spokesman for Stansted Airport told the BBC that people like Mr Hickford should carry a medical note about their metal implants if they think it's likely they will be stopped.

Mr Hickford's story echoes the recent experience of a businessman who had to drop his pants at Birmingham Airport to prove to security officers he'd had a hip replacement, describing the incident as "prehistoric".

Nigel Lloyd-Jones, 59, informed security officers at the airport that he'd undergone the surgery, and was likey to set off the metal detectors.

But, despite this, he was taken into a room with two officers, who asked him to lower his trousers to show them the surgery scar.

Mr Lloyd, an owner of an events company, was flying to visit a German client on 9 April when the incident occurred.

He had previously taken 64 European flights since his surgery following a motorbike accident in November 2011, most of which had been departing from Birmingham. But this was the first time he had been asked to show his scar.

Mr Lloyd-Jones spoke to the Birmingham Mail about his experience, saying: "The thought of my 86-year-old mother or my 76-year-old aunt to be put through such an indignity beggars belief. No-one seems to be able to tell me why this now has to be a requirement when we have bodyscanners and other state-of-the-art screening technology."

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