An Asian salesman was hauled off a plane as a suspected terrorist because he was listening to The Clash song ‘London Calling’. Harraj Mann, 24, was quizzed for three hours by Special Branch after his taxi driver overheard the lyrics, which include the lines “war is declared and battle come down”.
The mobile phone seller, from Hartlepool, said: “I got a taxi to Teesside Airport and it had one of those things that plugs into your music player. I played Procol Harum, ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ first, which the taxi man liked. I figured he liked the classics, so I put on Led Zeppelin’s ‘Immigrant Song’. Then, since I was going to London I played The Clash and finished up with ‘Nowhere Man’ by The Beatles. He didn’t like Led Zeppelin or The Clash but I don’t think there was any need to tell the police.”
Durham police said: “By the time it was established the man did not pose a security risk, the plane had taken off.”
See also BBC Tees, 5 April 2006