http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4249174

A diabetic businessman was ordered to leave a British Airways flight because he was carrying an insulin injection kit, it emerged today.

Cliff Salmons, 58, was told he could not keep his medication with him because he did not have a doctor’s letter explaining why he needed it.


The area sales manager from Liss, Hampshire, was taken off the BA aircraft in Hong Kong and had to take a later flight with another airline.

Mr Salmons said he had passed through check-in and got on the aircraft before BA staff told him his insulin pens would have to go in the baggage hold.

He told cabin crew he was an insulin-dependent diabetic who would die unless he could take his medication on the 13-hour flight home, but they feared the syringes could pose a danger.

Mr Salmons told the Mail on Sunday: “I have flown all over the world with BA and other airlines for the past 30 years and this has never happened to me before.

“Now I am seriously wondering if I’ll ever fly with BA again.”

A BA spokeswoman said: “Because of the safety and security implications, we do ask that people who need to carry syringes for medical reasons do carry a letter from their GP.

“The rules regarding carrying syringes on board are stated in our operating procedures.”