Brit soldiers kept on plane for 6 hours because they had on uniforms

Daily Mail:

More than 100 British soldiers were forced to wait for six hours on a plane because their uniforms represented a security risk, it has been claimed.

The treatment of the soldiers, who were returning from fighting on the front line in Afghanistan for one week's "rest and recuperation", was described by MPs today as "clumsy and insulting" and "outrageous and unacceptable".

The Ministry of Defence said that what had happened had clearly been "regrettable".

The soldiers' plane had been due to land at the Oxfordshire RAF base Brize Norton but freezing fog forced a diversion to Manchester Airport.

Although they touched down at 5.30am, the 128 soldiers of the 2nd Battalion Yorkshire Regiment - also known as the Green Howards - were unable to leave the plane until 11.30am.

By that time the plane had been diverted away from the passenger terminal and to the freight terminal.

The soldiers - many of them fresh from direct combat with Taliban forces just hours before - were then forced to stand in freezing weather until coaches could pick them up 50 minutes later.

With no money on them - it was waiting in Brize Norton - the troops were not able to eat at a service station en route, going without food between 5am and the late afternoon as well as losing a day they had planned to spend with loved ones.

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This is shameful treatment for those who would lay down their life for their country. The UK seems to be more worried about the reaction of anti war pukes than giving honorable treatment to troops who deserve it. The people responsible for this travesty need to be on the end of a brutally frank rebuke.