Without full details of the situation in which "John" found himself, how he behaved and who the "official" was, no-one can say.

C'mon Rusland, get with the flow, youre starting to sounds like a T5 security official :ugh:

In case my original posting was unclear (Rusland17) it was a security official, one of the 'shoes off' lot that watch while you put your things onto the conveyor belt.

And the basic question is: 'does someone who is not a government official (e.g. Border, HMRC, Police etc) have the right to do this?'

I think, irritating though it is, while you are in their sandpit, they can do what they want so long as it does not involve some form of assualt, imprisonment or human rights infringement regarding race, sex, disabilty etc.
Asking to see documents, even by a shoe checker, is probably acceptable and being rude is now inevitable.
If we have to fly, I guess we have to try to grit our teeth and rise above it all.

I don't agree. A passport is the property of the issuing government and I question whether a contracted security person has the right to CONFISCATE it, particularly as in this case it was done out of pure spite and abuse of power. Had the document been requested purely as a form if ID check, that would have been perfectly acceptable.

Anyway I have taken this up with the IPS. I've already received a preliminary response which indicates that they have some concerns about this, and they are going to come back to me now that I've given them further details. Obviously this is confidential but I will post the gist of their reply once finalised.

It is certainly not true that 'in their sandpit they can do what they want. They have to comply with English law like anyone else. They can't steal [which they sometimes call confiscating] stuff and they can't use threatening behaviour. I hope you get the outcome you deserve. Sorry for being dense but what it the IPS?

I also couldn't have told you what it stands for .... I would have called it the Passport agency, but it's this IPS - Homepage

Consider yourselves lucky that you can enjoy the privilege of feeder flights into LHR.

Over here in Jersey it's LGW or nothing. The tootle around the M25 adds absolutely nothing to the enjoyment, with the bus being frequently delayed in heavy traffic.