Back from hols and have read through this thread. I've no experience of STN 'security' but incidents reported in previous posts do happen dozens of times a day all around the empire.
The only answer one receives from these unfortunate people who man the security posts when they are confronted by logical questioning or reasoning is 'they're the rules' so.....
Where are these rules written down?
How do we, the pilot workforce, access these rules?
How do we know that these rules are being correctly enforced (given the variety of enforcement standards around the country)?
Why did we, as a workforce, allow these rules to be put into force without consultation with our professional bodies?
Who, in the Whitehall jungle, is the d...head who sanctioned these ludicrous rules in the first place?
Most importantly and seriously, how can we have these regulations reviewed to remove some of the ridiculous situations already descibed and reintroduce 'common sense' back into the situation. Nobody doubts the need for security measures but they must be applied by precision targeting and not carpet bombing.