The faff of getting through airport security is something we're all well versed in. The stress of squishing minute toiletries into a plastic bag; the scramble to separate your laptop from your hand luggage; the nail-biting moment that an official starts searching your bag and you find yourself genuinely wondering 'Did I manage to pack the potato peeler without realising?'
Just imagine the emotional roller-coaster that it must be, then, being responsible for Gatwick's 'huge drugs bust'(we're not even paraphrasing here) – which actually turned out to be vegan cake mix.
That's right: cake mix. White, powdery stuff that, as it turns out, looks extremely suspect when stacked in several plastic bags in your carry-on luggage.
Over the weekend the Guardian reported that Purezza, a vegan pizzeria were intercepted at Gatwick airport as they tried to travel through security with a suitcase stuffed with plastic bags full of a white powdered substance packed into blue plastic bags.
From the pictures, we can't exactly blame the British Transport Police for thinking that they'd uncovered a 'huge drugs bust'. If there was any more conspicuous a way to package vegan cake ingredients, it would be difficult to think up:
Perhaps if you taped the bags to the underside of a car? Or hid them in a snake fertility bowl Bridget-Jones style?
After testing, BTP Sussex found that the contents of the bags were just dairy-free cake mix (If you think your Monday is hard: just imagine the puns that must be flying around their office this morning...)
Taking the incident in surprisingly good humour, in an official statement, BTP Sussex said 'officers were called to Gatwick airport station at 1.34pm on 28 August after a suitcase was found containing 25 bags of powder.
Following a number of inquiries and tests, it was determined these bags of powder were cake ingredients for a vegan bakery. They were soon reunited with the owner, who has promised officers and staff a slice of cake in return.'
They followed up by advising the proper way to transport vegan cake ingredients, tweeting 'Please label your foods and bring samples of cake next time you visit'
Purezza, which has stores in London and Brighton, tweeted: 'Thanks for going easy on us guys! A slab of cake all round is in order when you’re next in Brighton.'
While Monday is never a fun day for anyone (not least because now all of the bank holidays are over), at least we can all console ourselves with the fact that we weren't detained at the borders for trying to smuggle flour through customs over the weekend.
On the other hand - vegans trolling airport security? We can't think of a story that would put us in a better mood for the rest of the week...