<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">This Week's Security Horror Story : 'A 71 year old grandmother can kill you just as much as a 20 year old' said Philadelphia Police Capt Dominic Mingacci. 'In these times we are living in, you can never tell'.

Mingacci made these comments to explain what happened when the grandmother in question, after getting off her plane and walking through the concourse at Philadelphia Airport, suddenly remembered that she had left her coat on the plane, so turned round and walked back towards the gate. In her confusion and concern, she didn't realize that she had left the secure part of the terminal and needed to detour through security to re-enter it. Instead, she went directly back the way she came, past the 'no entry' sign, and was then immediately chased by a security screener who stopped her.

What happened next? Oh, the usual. Although she was probably in the secure area for all of 30 seconds, and never out of sight of the security screener, the checkpoints were closed for 55 minutes and bomb sniffing dogs called in to secure the area, while the 71 year old grandmother was marched off to the airport's police station and questioned. She subsequently said 'I was treated like a criminal. I understand they were doing their job, but there was no reason for that screener to yell at me like that and almost knock me over'. Very true.</font>