Did this happen on 1 Apr? A man apparently caused a terror alert at Durham's Tees Valley airport, recently, all because of his taste in music. Harraj Mann was arrested aboard a BMI plane, scheduled to fly to Heathrow, under the Terrorism Act, after a cabbie alerted police to his passenger's love of The Clash.
Mann, a mobile phone salesman, was traveling to the airport in a taxi and asked his driver to play his music, one song of which was 'London Calling', a track containing the lyric "war is declared and battle come down". This, along with the fact, no doubt, that Mann is of asian origin, gave the driver reason to believe that his passenger was acting suspiciously.
Mann told The Sun: "I played Procol Harum's 'A Whiter Shade Of Pale' first, which the taxi man liked. I figured he liked the classics, so I put on Led Zeppelin's 'Immigrant Song'. Then, since I was going to London, I played The Clash and finished up with 'Nowhere Man' by The Beatles. He didn't like Led Zeppelin or The Clash, but I don't think there was any need to tell the police. I was laughing about it, but all my mates are absolutely furious. It's just left me bemused. I can agree that there's a culture of fear. They acted on the information they had. I'm just frustrated that it happened to me. It's a mystery."
To Radio Five Live he said: "I said to staff you've taken me off my flight due to my taste in music, in a more colourful way. I mean where does it stop? What if I was wearing a Che Guevara t-shirt, what if I was wearing odd socks, you know. I mean obviously the political climate these days is like walking on egg shells, but I mean there's caution and then there's taking it to the point where it's absurd and ludicrous."
A spokeswoman explained that it was not just the music, but an "overall impression" that aroused the driver's suspicions. She continued: "By the time it was established the man did not pose a security risk, the plane had taken off. Safety is paramount and we respond to concerns from members of the public in the way they would expect us to. In this case the report was made with the best of intentions and we would not want to discourage people from contacting us with genuine concerns regarding security."