A mum has been left angry after staff at East Midlands Airport physically searched her son as they were going through airport security.
The 35-year-old says she was left "fuming" after her and her wife were taking their one-year-old son through the gate.
The incident happened when the couple were on their way to Tunisia for their son's birthday.
"Our one-year-old was fast asleep in the stroller, I took him out so it could go through," said the woman from Anstey, Leicestershire.
"I was holding him as I went through the scanner and it bleeped."
She said that is when security guards said they would have to search her and her child.
She claimed that a male member of staff then physically searched her child and told her to remove his shoes so they could also be searched.
"It's absolutely disgusting," she told LeicestershireLive.
"They wouldn't even let my wife hold him whilst I went through the additional scanner, he was screaming for her by this point", she added.
"But eventually because she had to go through the scanner too they let her hold him.
"They physically searched him, and we had to remove his shoes which was completely over the top.
"I'm fuming, the more I think about it the more I think is it actually okay to touch a child?
"I didn't even have to remove my shoes so why would would he have to remove his?
What East Midlands Airport said
An East Midlands Airport spokesman confirmed that if a child is carried through the archway which is then activated, both the adult and the child must be searched.
Whilst an adult can go through a body scanner a small child cannot because of a height restriction.
The airport also said that a child cannot be handed back to a parent until the search of the child is completed due to a risk of 'cross contamination' between those who activated the archway and those who did not.
The spokesman said: "We appreciate that airport security processes can be daunting for very young children and families, especially if they are flying for the first time.
"Security officers are trained to handle such situations tactfully and with respect.
"The safety of passengers flying through EMA is our number one priority.
"All UK airports have to comply with national Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) security regulations and everyone, regardless of age, is subject to the same security procedures.”
