Mark Harris, 51, accidentally took two steak knives through security at Manchester Airport without being stopped – and says he will ‘never know’ how they were able to get past the scanners
A dad has revealed how he accidentally managed to pass through airport security with two sharp knives in his bag without being stopped and searched.
Mark Harris, 51, packed a bag still containing two steak knives he’d brought on a recent camping trip in the Lake District for his flight from Manchester Airport to Malaga on April 9. But it was only when his travelling companion, Lisa, 52, asked to borrow a charger in the departure lounge that Mark unzipped the bag – and discovered he still had the banned items on him. The father-of-one had already carried the knives through the security checkpoint, but claims, alarmingly, that no-one stopped him or inspected his luggage – even though it went through a scanner.
Mark, who previously worked as a security manager, handed over the knives to the café manage as soon as he realised his mistake, and says he felt utterly “mortified” by the incident. A few minutes later, he was approached by two security officers who asked about his check-in process and examined his bag.
Mark said the guards were “horrified” at the apparent lapse – but allowed him to continue his travel plans as normal. He said: “How the knives got through the security scanners, I will never know.
“I felt a sharp blade in my bag, rummaged again, and felt the other blade as well. I hadn’t been out of the country for seven years.
“If we get to go away, we go to the Lakes quite a lot, and the knives were from a camping trip. I didn’t know they were there at all. It was a totally genuine mistake, and I could’ve got banged up.”
Mark says the mishap was cleared up quickly when he spoke to security, though he had feared initially that he would be stopped from flying for having the banned items, even though it was unintentional. He added that the catering manager he gave the knives to “didn’t understand how I got through with them”, and told him that she expected there would be “some re-training” as a result of the security mishap.
The dad remained on his stool as airport security spoke to him, and said he “didn’t want to go to another room because I had nothing to hide”. Sharing his concerns over the fact he was inadvertently able to get the items through security, Mark added: “I had no intention of using the weapon, but this security breach is really serious.
“They were trying to find who was not doing their job. I would be livid if they turned around to me and said that we couldn’t go on the flight, but thankfully, that didn’t happen. She [the café manager] said there will be some re-training.
“Their job [security’s] is to protect people’s lives. It’s not just about protecting people on the plane, it’s about people walking around the airport and travelling. The more I think about the worst case scenarios, the more it turns my stomach.”
A spokesperson for Manchester Airport said: “Passenger safety is always our number one priority. We have investigated this incident and taken appropriate action. We regularly test the effectiveness of our security measures to make sure they are operating as they should and within strict targets set by Government.”
