Murray, another post in a loooooooong list demonstrating that you are employed in a job that is exactly right for your intellectual capabilities.
I'll let you in on a secret; most foreigners look down your security procedures. LHR security is insanity carried to a level surpassed only in the good old USA. Staffed by jobsworths who believe themselves to be fearless SAS warriors. Their petty, vindictive, shortsighted attitude towards vetted and security screened aircrew beggars belief.
Second class?
Don't make me laugh. Last in class is what you guys are. Behind Uzbekistan.
But I digress....
No captain I know would delay an entire flight for frivolous reasons. That's just not the way airline captains function.
If this guy delayed his flight, he must have had a jolly good reason.
Me, I've got more faith in this captain's judgement than in some sensationalist journo writing about matters beyond his ken. (LHR X-ray fetishists of course know everything )