AN IRISH writer has described how she was strip-searched at a London airport after staff refused to believe she had two hip replacements.
Mary Kenny, left, was taken to an isolation room at Luton airport and forced to undress to "verify" that she had had the medical procedures. The 69-year-old author and journalist said it had been a "very unpleasant" experience. Ms Kenny was about to board a flight to Kerry when she was singled out for examination after going through a security sensor. "I have two hip replacements and I normally just tell airport staff before I go through the security sensor," she told the Irish Independent. She said a female security employee said to her "just stand still, darling". "I just don't like this thing of women being called 'darling' when all the men are being called 'sir'," she said. "I objected and I think she just took against me."
The newspaper columnist said she was then taken to a curtained area to be examined by two female security staff members. "They made me take off my dress, my tights and my knickers and show them the scars. They examined the scars."
Ms Kenny said she had one hip operation during the 1980s and another in 2008. "The first one was so long ago I thought maybe the scar had faded and I'd be in real trouble. The 2008 one was a nice big gash." She added that she should have complained about the experience but was afraid she would miss her flight. "I mean did they think a sixty-something Irish lady was an agent of al-Qaeda? I have never had any trouble before."