Kerfuffle at Gatwick

So when I came through Gatwick yesterday, I found two of my three checked bags quite easily. The third was my armored gun case. After wandering about for a minute or two I paused between the two carousels where our flight baggage came off and happened to look down. Eh, voila! At my feet was my gun case.

Now this should NEVER have happened. Firearms are very tightly controlled in the UK, especially in a vulnerable area like an airport baggage claim.

I grabbed the case and headed to the "red zone" (customs declaration area) where I mentioned to the Border Force agent what had happened and passed over my firearms permit.

Shortly thereafter, I was in a crowd. Border Force, a WestJet representative, a baggage handling firm representative, and police.

Lots of photos of the case were taken, my paperwork examined, and a discussion ensued about how the mistake had happened. The possible impact was quite dramatic, as someone else could have simply loaded my case on their cart and walked out of the baggage claim area through the "nothing to declare" area.

I found no armed police, and no police of any kind in baggage claim. No Border Force either. Unlike previous year's visits, security was notably absent.

Hoping that my teammates coming through tomorrow and the next week don't encounter any such issues.