Passport after departure lounge
I was booked on a flight to depart Luton to travel to France.
The flight was delayed by over 5 hours and I decided to abandon the trip.
To exit the airport security insisted I be escorted by the airline handling agent. The handler took me to the (post immigration) baggage retrieval hall and insisted I had to then walk with them to the pre immigration hall. Refusal to accompany the handling agent met with threats of arrest by a police officer.
As Luton has (I believe) full separation of arriving and departing passengers, why is it necessary to show a passport to exit the airport when I hadn't left the UK or passed a UK border point ? Note - there is no border control to exit the UK at Luton. I was thinking to prove a point I could book a flight on my Android from Luton to Edinburgh later the same day, just to show there was no statutory immigration requirement (or a loophole existed) but decided not to waste time+money.
Apologies if this seems like a rant but I'm mystified as to where all this immigration requirement comes from. Anyone knowledgable out there ?