Holidaymakers have slammed Heathrow after staff confiscated a woman’s makeup because they claimed her lipstick was a liquid.
Shadia Black, from Switzerland, spent two days in London with just hand luggage, and was going through Heathrow Terminal Two’s security when she was stopped by staff.
The law student and fashion model said staff initially wanted to confiscate her travel-sized £250 Estée Lauder perfume and face wash gel before they resigned to taking three of her unused lipsticks worth around £90.
Shadia told MailOnline the experience left her ‘enraged’, especially as Heathrow’s website said solid lipsticks were not considered liquids.
She said: ‘They took my bag aside and looked through everything and took a perfume and a face wash gel.
HAS AIRPORT SECURITY TAKEN YOUR BELONGINGS? Email chris.matthews@mailonline.co.uk
Shadia Black (pictured), from Switzerland, had spent two days in London with hand luggage only and was going through Heathrow Terminal Two’s security when she was stopped by staff.
The law student and fashion model said staff initially wanted to confiscate her travel sized £250 Estée Lauder perfume and face wash gel before they resigned to taking three of her unused lipsticks worth around £90
‘They started putting all my lipsticks in [a clear] bag. They said it was liquid.
‘It’s a misuse of position. They didn’t throw it away. They just put it aside.
‘The rules are the rules. I didn’t like the way staff were handling things.
‘I was enraged.’
Shadia said she left the three lipsticks with security because she didn’t want to miss her flight.
She said she wanted ‘people in power to be kept in check. I am fuming. I’ve never been so mad before’.
She claimed: ‘The airport staff are brutally robbing people.
‘They tell you you have too many liquids on your bag and then they take it and put it aside but not in the bin.’
Taking to TikTok, she told her 18,000 followers about her exchange with a female Heathrow security officer.
Shadia said: ‘She was like, ”It has to fit in this clear bag,” and then she gave me this little clear bag.
Some of Shadia’s 18,000 followers shared their views beneath her video. One said: ‘I used to work in Heathrow. The staff intentionally say [an] item is liquid, over 100ml, [you’re] not allowed to take it. They take it home’
‘I told her, ”This is lipstick not liquid”. But she was like, ”Our policy says it is liquid”.
‘Apparently I was the person with the attitude.
‘They were like, ”We don’t care what you came with but when you’re leaving you have to follow the policy.”
‘I was like, ”lipstick is not a liquid,” but she was like, ”It is, it’s on our website. I’m the manager and I say it is.”
‘I was so mad I didn’t think, but now, I would have destroyed them so they can’t take them.
‘I don’t even know what to do. This is so crazy and cruel.
Heathrow’s website says in its FAQ about security and baggage that solid lipstick is not considered a liquid
Heathrow told Shadia the airport’s Mail and Fly service may be holding her lipsticks rather than destroying them
‘Imagine if they keep taking the stuff out that they want to keep for themselves.
‘They looked like they want to keep these things for themselves.
‘This is a robbery.’
Heathrow’s website says in its FAQ about security and baggage that solid lipstick is not considered a liquid.
Other passengers were equally angry after hearing of Shadia’s experience – with many demanding to know what happens to liquids after security confiscates them.
One said: ‘I used to work in Heathrow. The staff intentionally say [an] item is liquid, over 100ml, [you’re] not allowed to take it. They take it home.’
Another said: ‘It’s disgusting. Daylight robbery. How can they do this?’
When MailOnline approached Heathrow about the incident and what happens to confiscated property, an airport spokesman initially claimed that ‘nothing which is confiscated is kept or reused’.
He said: ‘There’s no other use that we can vouch for. All of our security colleagues are trained.’
The spokesman added: ‘Our security colleagues are trained to apply the standards set down by the DfT for all UK airports on what items can and can’t be taken airside. Any items that are confiscated are safely disposed of.’
However, Heathrow told Shadia the airport’s Mail and Fly service may be holding her lipsticks rather than destroying them.
The Mail and Fly service is supposed to help reunite passengers with property confiscated by security.
When MailOnline spoke to the service, it admitted that security did not throw away things that were confiscated but instead kept them and gave them to Mail and Fly.
The service said it holds them for three months and if no one comes forward to claim them, it will donate the property to charity.
Heathrow did not clarify which charity.
HAS AIRPORT SECURITY TAKEN YOUR BELONGINGS? Email chris.matthews@mailonline.co.uk
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