MP calls for the dignity of disabled people to be protected in airport security checks

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An MP has called for new laws to protect the dignity of disabled people forced to undergo intrusive security checks at airports.

The Labour MP Tom Blenkinsop said many disabled travellers, particularly stoma bag-users, had been left humiliated after experiences at airport security checkpoints in the UK and Europe.

He spoke out as he introduced his new airport security (people with disabilities) bill, under the Commons ten-minute rule.

Blenkinsop said that one constituent, who has had treatment for cancer and now uses urostomy and colostomy pouches, had faced “humiliation” at several European Union (EU) airports.

She told him that security staff at Budapest airport had wanted to examine her underwear, “despite her attempts to explain that she had colostomy pouches”.

He said: “She was required to attempt to explain that to them in public, in front of fellow holidaymakers in the security queue – an experience she described as ‘totally degrading’.”

The same constituent was also poorly treated at an English airport, while a second disabled traveller, from Ballymena in Northern Ireland, faced a distressing public search at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport.

His research has revealed similar cases at airports throughout the world...