Posted on 03/10/2009 3:28:37 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A tennis player today won his case at the European Court of Justice against airport security staff who believed that his racquets posed a terrorist threat and threw him off a flight.
Judges ruled that the unpublished European Union register of hand luggage restrictions could not be enforced because passengers had no way of knowing exactly what was prohibited.
The EU list shows that racquets are not specifically banned from the cabin. However, it contains a catch-all prohibition on "any blunt instrument capable of causing injury". An over-eager airport official might still argue that racquets fall into that category.
BAA tonight advised tennis travellers at British airports to play safe and store their racquets in the hold. A spokesman said that even if they escaped a ban as a terrorist weapon, they would most likely exceed the size limits for cabin baggage.
Related Links Can you take a tennis racquet on a plane? Clown finds airport security no laughing matter Laptop security trial ends at Heathrow and Glasgow The case was brought by Gottfried Heinrich, Austrian tennis enthusiast. On his way to a tournament he was thrown off a flight at Vienna airport in 2005, having already cleared general security screening.
It highlighted what one legal adviser called the "fundamental absurdity" of European anti-terror regulations from 2003 that outlawed a range of possible weapons from the aircraft cabin — but were not made public for security reasons.
The EU eventually published the secret list last summer, finally explaining why passengers had found that skateboards, golf clubs and fishing roads were not allowed in the cabin.
Mr Heinrich was so angry that he brought a compensation case against the Austrian authorities for failing to inform him that he was carrying banned items.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
“unpublished European Union register of hand luggage restrictions “
Friggin EU. PU.
Wouldn't elbows, fists, feet, and knees fall under the same prohibition?
How about an umbrella? Many women’s handbags certainly fit in that category.
Fresh fruit, now is really dangerous. What do you do if somebody comes at you with a peach?
Not to mention any purse, backback, or carryon bag.
Don’t forget head butting...euro soccer types seem to love that maneuver.
Didn’t we do peaches last week?
There goes my cane. I guess I'll have to crawl.
My fist has been known to cause injury upon occasion.
Was it John McEnroe?
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