Stewards searching a 4 & 8 year old's bags

[The Fifth Column]

Is it really necessary for stewards to stop and search both my 4 year old and 8 year olds kids seagulls rucksacks on going through the turnstiles? Seriously FFS what are they expecting to find? Are they not sensible enough to take my word for it that there was nothing dangerous in either bag?!? The stupidest part of it is that they completely ignored the bag on my back after I challenged them and asked them if it was really necessary, some bloody common sense wouldn't go amiss with some stewards.

 

[armchairclubber]

I was a little surprised they checked my 10 yo daughters Gully's Gang bag, the sad thing is she didn't understand why, what are you supposed to say.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Stewards are often fair game but I don't really think you have a lot to moan about. It's not like they patted down the kids, just checked their bags. An adult could place illicit stuff in kids bags quite easily. Unlikely but possible.

What's the big deal? Certainly not worth making a fuss about.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Look at it from the steward's point of view , they have to ensure everybody's safety not allowing restricted items into the stadium. Some parents without thinking might put a small glass bottle of soft drink into a backpack. Dont forget at London Road last season a distress flare got smuggled into the ground because a steward didn't fully check the contents of a backpack.

 

[16bha]

I don't mind the checking but they have to be consistent. Both me and daughter have walked straight in with rucksacks today and against Sunderland, and nobody checked.

Also when I order a kids lunch box, which includes a Half size hotdog, they just give her The adult size, which is way too big!

 

[Lady Whistledown]

Oh my god.

A hot dog that's too big. I've heard all the complaints now, I really have.

 

[Ned]

Whilst the manner in which a search of bags (especially those of minors) has to be handled diplomatically by the operative so as not to be offensive but stating that it is necessary omitting your bag from the search was inexcusable.
Sorry but your logic is flawed. If these stewards took a "parents" word for it that there is nothing in the bags of the children then it's not long before some psycho twigs on to this to smuggle in contraband or worse still an I.E.D. This may seem to be paranoia talking but it has been shown that as "mainstream" targets have their security improved the nut jobs go for softer targets. (A packed stadium blown up would send one hell of a message to the world)
Please do not take this as a personal attack on yourself & there is no intent to suggest that you would do anything of this nature.

 

[Gritt23]

I don't see that you can have grey areas on this. If there is a bag, it should be checked, regardless of the age of the person carrying it.

 

[Best Foot Forward]

My 9 year old had his bag checked today. I don't have any problem with that

 

[Giraffe]

I think at all events kids bags get checked. My sons did at Lords and the Oval. I think you should only be aggrieved if they tried to search your child.

 

[Giraffe]

I've just thought no one and I mean NO ONE has their bag checked going into 1901. If you wanted to explode a bomb that's the place to do it it would seem

 

[1066familyman]

I was a little surprised they checked my 10 yo daughters Gully's Gang bag, the sad thing is she didn't understand why, what are you supposed to say.

Tell them it's the thin edge of the wedge on the road to a police state. Never ever ever offer up a bag for searching, but comply if asked because we must bide our time and one day the tides going to turn. Works for me.

 

[alan partridge]

I've just thought no one and I mean NO ONE has their bag checked going into 1901. If you wanted to explode a bomb that's the place to do it it would seem

It's like first class on a plane...no plastic cutlery there!

thank GOD the terrorists don't do first class

 

[16bha]

Oh my god.

A hot dog that's too big. I've heard all the complaints now, I really have.

It takes her the first half to eat the bloody thing...

 

[The Fifth Column]

Stewards are often fair game but I don't really think you have a lot to moan about. It's not like they patted down the kids, just checked their bags. An adult could place illicit stuff in kids bags quite easily. Unlikely but possible.

What's the big deal? Certainly not worth making a fuss about.

Well I think it is worth making a fuss about, I don't suppose you have cause to often check 4 and 8 year olds bags very often do you? Would you even really think you'd have the grounds to do so? As you say it is unlikely anything illicit would be placed in a childs bag, in my opinion so unlikely as to make it inappropriate for stranger in a yellow jacket to stop a 4 year old kid in his tracks and ask to look in his bag. Who the hell are you to tell me its not worth making a fuss over anyway. You try and explain to a 4 year old what the person was looking for? In fact, I couldn't answer that question because the steward herself couldn't or wouldn't tell me what she was looking for. As for the search it consisted of looking in the top of the bag moving a few items on the top and squeezing it, such a pointless task that I question why it is being done at all?

 

[Woodchip]

I think at all events kids bags get checked. My sons did at Lords and the Oval. I think you should only be aggrieved if they tried to search your child.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

It takes her the first half to eat the bloody thing...

word of advice , dont buy her a hot dog at Hartlepool's ground if you ever visit there with her.

 

[Barrel of Fun]

I travelled a lot on buses in South America. In Ecuador, there was a rule that police were not allowed to search women or children.

If ever a bus trip came across a police barricade, the driver would scream such and that would initiate a hand over of drugs, guns, knives to the women and children, before the rest of us were ushered off to be checked.

I really don't see the problem with ANY bag being searched.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

I just don't think it's remotely worth moaning about, that's all. It's not like it actually holds you up, FFS. All football grounds stipulate bags may be searched as a condition of entry. I can't see for a second what the big deal is.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Well I think it is worth making a fuss about, I don't suppose you have cause to often check 4 and 8 year olds bags very often do you? Would you even really think you'd have the grounds to do so? As you say it is unlikely anything illicit would be placed in a childs bag, in my opinion so unlikely as to make it inappropriate for stranger in a yellow jacket to stop a 4 year old kid in his tracks and ask to look in his bag. Who the hell are you to tell me its not worth making a fuss over anyway. You try and explain to a 4 year old what the person was looking for? In fact, I couldn't answer that question because the steward herself couldn't or wouldn't tell me what she was looking for. As for the search it consisted of looking in the top of the bag moving a few items on the top and squeezing it, such a pointless task that I question why it is being done at all?

At what age do you think it becomes acceptable to search someones bag? should there be an upper age limit as well as a lower age limit?

Its a part of the entry terms and conditions for entry at every ground in the country that anyone can be searched upon entry or refused access so why should your kids be exempt from this?

I personally don't see the problem here