WATCH: How Lib Dems are fighting airport injustice

By Caron Lindsay | Sat 5th January 2019 - 9:57 am

Did you know that a disproportionate number of those stopped and checked at airports were BAME people?

Did you know that if, as a result of those checks, they and their families missed their flight, there was no compensation?

Thanks to the Lib Dem Campaign for Racial Equality, this issue is now being given the attention it deserves.

Watch Dr Mohsin Khan outline the problem and explain what LDCRE has done to try and sort things out.

Being racially profiled and stopped and searched in aiports is humiliating.
BAME passengers suffer disproportionately from this.
Vice-chair @thedoctorkhan speaks about his work to prevent unjust treatment and win compensation for victims' missed flights.#modernpartymodernbritain pic.twitter.com/u7GZS6QBaE

— Lib Dem Campaign for Race Equality (@LDCRE1) December 27, 2018

This was part of LDCRE’s end of year campaign which showcased the huge amount of work that they have done in a very short time.

You can find out more, and join, here.

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings. You can find her on Bluesky at caronmlindsay.bsky.social

4 Comments

Mark Seaman 5th Jan '19 - 11:41am

This certainly seemed to be the case a few years ago, namely the two years before the Border Agency was split off from HMRC. I saw the stats for stop and searches at airports which clearly showed that black people were more likely to be stopped, but if anything, slightly less likely than average to be found to be carrying something illegal. This had occurred two years running, and I was surprised at the time that senior managers had not addressed the matter. Once the Border Agency was created I did not have such easy access to the data so cannot comment on later years.
Mick Taylor 5th Jan '19 - 12:56pm

I have witnessed this time and time again in airports all over the world. It’s not just in the UK. It’s racist and wrong and Lib Dems should challenge it. Well done LDCRE. I’m with you.
Richard Underhill 5th Jan '19 - 4:50pm

Maybe a parliamentary committee should ask about Airline Liaison Officers (ALOs).
Tom Harney 6th Jan '19 - 9:36am

A few years ago I spoke to someone who was born in England, but whose family came from India. He said he had to allow an extra hour to get to the airport to allow for the questions which happened each time he travelled.