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Naomi and T5: an explosive mix of rage and bungling
Benedict Moore-Bridger and Valentine Low04.04.08
Mixing Naomi Campbell and T5 was never going to be a very good idea.
The new Heathrow terminal has reduced passengers to tears of frustration and rage ever since its disastrous opening a week ago.
And the supermodel - well, let us just say she is known to have anger management issues.
So whoever thought it was sensible for her travel plans to include T5 had not - possibly - thought things through.
Today, after spending nearly seven hours in custody after allegedly spitting in a police officer's face at Heathrow, Campbell was released on bail.
The incident last night culminated in Campbell being handcuffed and hauled, kicking and screaming, out of the firstclass cabin of the BA plane for supposedly spitting and then punching the officer after a row with airport staff about a missing bag.
She was held at Heathrow police station and released shortly after midnight.
She now faces the prospect of six months behind bars if convicted of the alleged assault.
She threw a tantrum when BA staff, on board what is believed to have been the 4pm flight for Los Angeles, told her one of her three bags had been caught up in chaos at the new terminal.
The star screamed insults at airport staff, and demanded they look for it, turning down their offer to find it and forward it to her.
She continued to hurl insults as she took her seat but staff allegedly said she was unfit to fly. Police were then called and three officers from the Met's S018 aviation security branch arrived.
Campbell, who had paid £6,000 for the plane ticket, was reportedly heard screaming "get off me, leave me alone" before the alleged attack took place.
Her two other bags were removed from the flight which was delayed for 90 minutes.
One police source said the supermodel had "lost it". He said: "She was going nuts, spitting, punching and lashing out. BA staff were genuinely concerned about her well-being. But they had no alternative but to call police when she refused to calm down."
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: "At 5.13pm police were called to a disturbance at Terminal 5. Officers attended and a 37-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police officer.
"A 37-year-old woman has been released on bail pending further inquiries, to return at a date in late May."
Campbell has a record of violent outbursts. In 2000 she was sentenced to five days community service after throwing a mobile phone at her housekeeper.
Reader views (24)
Surely the BA staff could have been slightly more sensitive to their customers, considering that they have consistently been getting away with bad service, delayed flights, missing bags, bad food etc. over the last year, and now even worse with their blunder in Terminal 5!
- Gordon, London
BA is not so good anymore. I also dread using that airline. Willie Walsh the CEO of British Airways should have resigned a long time ago as he and his personnel are incompetent.
- Peteo, London, NW1
BA and Naomi Campbell is a marriage made in hell. They disregard completely the needs/wishes of their customers (though they could still learn some lessons from Ryanair when it comes to complete and utter contempt for their customers), while she needs a big does of reality (though I do sympathise just a bit that BA can lose a bag while still happy to charge thousands for a 1st class ticket).
- Paul, London
I do not feel safe with British Airways anymore either. Their service is bad and their personnel should work harder and not just call police out for a disgruntled customer. Customers should always come first. BA is not so good anymore and they should sort out their act.
- Georgie, Islington, London
Of course, I don't hold with abusing police officers but during the "freezing fog" Christmas of 2006 I, with hundreds of others,was a passenger on a BA flight,stuck in Heathrow, exhausted by hours of queuing for who knew what, with luggage missing and no sensible information on whether, when and how I'd be able to get on my way for a Christmas family reunion. My experience then was that frontline BA staff seemed to take a positive delight in being rude, unhelpful and downright hostile towards we stranded passengers. What's the betting that they've been like this over this past week too?
- Mary, London, UK
Can't this "lady with issues" be detained in custody pending a psychiatric evaluation or sanctioned ???
Pull her up with a jerk if she misses a few gigs - plenty of other skeletons out there (and that's another story!) The so-called designers will soon dump her if she fails to show. The whole industry needs a good hard reality check.
- Ian Heritage, Melbourne, Australia
I must have been living under a rock or something. I don't know and I still don't know who Miss Campbell is, let alone what she does for a living. But I do know, whoever and whatever, she certainly needs to learn some civility and manners.
- Jon Vickers, SC USA
Send this trashy woman to the slammer. Might teach her a much needed lesson in manners and respect of other people.
- Joseph Cook, Las Vegas,Nv. USA
BA has to leave "Little Britain" and has to leave Heathrow. run by "Little" minded "inspector" pathetic specimens, or BA will eventually go bust.
- Bill, Paris
Lets face it she's now well past whatever she was supposed to be good at, blame her upbringing for not teaching her up to respect other people & their property.
A good slapping, six months in clink might make her grow up & address her childish antics. Next time she should walk the Atlantic.
- Phil, Streatham UK
How about a 3 month ban by all airlines! She could paddle to get across the Atlantic!
- Susie, London
This nasty woman needs a few months in jail to calm her down. She is really a horrid person.
- Alfred Morrissey, The Midlands
While I agree with much of the comments regarding Naomi's behaviour -- let's not forget she has paid BA £6000 for a ticket and BA in their typical style have no doubt been suitably condescending -- "we will send the bag later". What via Milan?
Unfortunately 6 months is jail isn't the answer.
- Murray, Northampton England
Modern 'customer service' so-called, consists of nothing more than defusing situations where customers are rightly angry at the treatment they've been given and in avoiding litigation. Unfortunately, the real cost of identifying customers' causes for concern and addressing them would bite deep into a supplier's profits. 'The customer is always right' is a dictum that only the most profitable organisations can honour - for the rest of us it's 'take it or leave it'. I prefer to leave it. I and my family and will avoid BA and Heathrow until it is consistently getting good reviews for its service and low level of complaints. Caveat emptor.
- Peter Haldane, London
Bang up this talentless overpaid egomaniac clothes horse before she has someone's eye out.
- Squiz, Islington
As ugly inside as outside,
Disgusting.
- Vanessa, London
Send her down for 6 months, that would teach her a lesson.
- Neil Grinsell, london
She certainly has got "issues", but she is only physically expressing what the rest of us who use Heathrow are bottling up. Fix the ridiculous queues and everyone will be happy, even Miss Campbell.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one
This foul mouthed female really does need to be taught a lesson. This is the umpteenth time she has lost the plot and does not seem to grasp decent behaviour. I think a heavy fine and/or a reasonably long jail sentence will be a salutary lesson to this self degraded woman.
- Neil, Liverpool (UK)
I agree Campbell should face the consequences of her actions, but so should the idiots who so incompetently oversaw the opening of T5.
- Greg, London
The model from hell meets the terminal from hell on the airline from hell. Hope her flight organiser has fully paid up life insurance when she finally wriggles free..
Wonder if anyone got it on camera? Don't worry if not - bound to be a sequel along soon!
- Pete Porter, Lewisham
"anger management issues"? She's a spoilt brat.
- Bob, London
Could you please throw the book at this insane woman? She truly deserves to do some serious jail time. What an embarrassment she is.
- M G Lake, Kentucky, USA
Repeat Anger management classes for this girl I say...
Someone should do to her what she's done to others; put in her in the same situation and simulate her actions so she can understand the impact her actions have on others. She needs to get off her celebrity high horse, and come back down to earth!
- Ant, Reading
