City border force officials slammed as over-zealous

A MUM travelling home to the UK on a stretcher after brain surgery in Spain claims she was stopped by UK Border Force officials in Plymouth under suspicion of drug smuggling.

- ADAM DUTTON AND ZHARA SIMPSON

Rachel Pighills, 36, was left sobbing while lying on a stretcher and connected to an oxygen tank inside a warehouse at Millbay docks, where she was forced to wait for four hours while border agents meticulously searched the vehicle she was travelling in with husband Guy.

The couple, from Pershore, Worcestershire, had travelled by ferry in a small second-hand ambulance driven by Guy, 41, to Spain to undergo an operation. The 13-anda-half-hour surgery on May 20 involved inserting metal rods into her spine and re-setting the position of her skull and brain stem.

The operation was a success and after almost four weeks in hospital, Rachel and Guy drove back to the UK on June 17. But after a 20-hour overnight ferry from Santander to Plymouth, they say they were stopped by Border Force officials who suspected them of drug smuggling.