Ok so WHY was this f/o not held at the security check point if they suspected he was intoxicated?
Under what authority?
Security screeners in the UK have no right to detain anyone, let alone detain a pilot just because they
suspect that he might be intoxicated.
They have a statutory right to deny passage through security for any breach of specific security policy, and a general right under UK law to report any suspected offence to the police (just as you and I do) but that's it.
In the UK, detaining someone without authority is one of the fastest ways of getting yourself detained!
Why wait till he was onboard the a/c ?
Most probably because that was how long it took for the police to attend, following a security screener's report,
if it was a security screener's report that alerted the police.
And why was this turned into a spectacle in front of pax?
When police attend such an incident, inevitably some passengers will notice, but the Met Police
are usually quite discreet in these matters.
This report was in the Sun. As
cactusmike has implied, think of a down-market version of the National Enquirer, and you get some idea of the level of trust one can place in their reporting.
I remain unconvinced that it was turned into a
spectacle in front of
hundreds of passengers, as reported, until a more reliable source indicates that that was indeed the case!
Still hoping for a happy outcome to this case for this pilot.
Best Regards
Bellerophon