More than £292million of toiletries to be confiscated at UK airports this summer – make sure you know the rules
MORE than £292million worth of toiletries – or 41 million items – are expected to be confiscated at UK airports this summer.
Passengers who don’t want to part ways with luxury lotions and other essentials must make sure they know the rules before travelling.
According to new research a huge pile of toiletries is set to be dumped at airport security gates this summer holiday season.
Ripe Hair & Beauty surveyed 1,500 Brits and found that 24 per cent of people have had toiletries confiscated at the security gate before getting on a flight.
This was either because they were unaware of the 100ml rule and maximum liquid allowances, or simply forgot.
The average number of toiletries dumped by each of these passengers was three, with an approximate value of £7.06 each or £21.18 total.
Overall, this amounts to 41,302,413 individual toiletry items ending up in the bin, with a total value of £291,595,038 across all UK airports.
These figures are for July and August alone.
And the problem doesn’t only apply to travellers on the way out to their holiday destination.
Blunders are also made when returning home as one-fifth of people have bought a full-sized toiletry product at the UK Duty Free, only to realise they couldn’t bring it back with them.
The research comes amidst recent confusion when it comes to airport rules around carrying liquids on-board.
It comes as holidaymakers were warned of a common airport mistake that could cost them hundreds of pounds.
Many passengers find themselves leaving exchanging their travel money until the last minute at the airport.
But research conducted by eurochange compared the price offered in five of the UK’s busiest airports, and found it could leave people significantly out of pocket.
It revealed travellers could lose an eye-watering £200 when they take away €1,000 at London Stanstead – ranked the most expensive.
Their exchange rate is currently €0.9076 per £1.
What are the latest rules on liquids at UK airports?
Since 2006, passengers have only been allowed to carry liquids up to a maximum of 100ml per item in their hand luggage.
These must be in a clear, resealable plastic bag with a maximum volume of 1 litre and dimensions of 20 x 20cm.
But, there have been numerous changes to rules around taking liquids on-board aircraft over the last 12 months.
Six airports (London City, Newcastle, Leeds/Bradford, Aberdeen, Southend and Teesside) had initially upgraded to new-generation 3D scanners, which remove the need for liquid restrictions.
But the implementation of these systems was suddenly rolled back by the Government in early June.
This means liquid restrictions have come back into force.
Holidaymakers from all UK airports have since been warned to revert to the original 100ml maximum rule when travelling.
At the other end of the spectrum, Birmingham Airport came in cheapest, but holidaymakers were still missing out on £155.98.
Meanwhile, when taking out $1,000 at the same airport, passengers can expect to lose £144.17.
This is still significantly cheaper than the wasted £193.93 at Stanstead for the same transaction.
The reason for such figures is that global exchange rates are a lot steeper within terminals than in regular shops.
Laura Evans-Fisk, head of digital engagement at eurochange told Metro: “Changing money at the airport is absolutely the least cost-effective way of picking up your holiday money, as rates can be up to 13% higher than they are on the high-street or online.