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Kumar Sangakkara, a top Sri Lankan cricketer, took to Twitter recently with a series of tweets criticising a UK immigration official following a 'horrendous experience' at Heathrow Airport.
Such is his importance to Cricket in April 2015 the Sri Lankan Sports Minister had urged Sangakkara to continue to play in test matches. Despite pleas to stay on by the Minister and many others he no longer plays in One Day Internationals (ODIs) and will soon be retiring from Test cricket.
Sangakkara's first tweet on his official Twitter account read: 'Had a horrendous experience with a rude, patronising and extremely discourteous UK immigration officer.' This comment was 'retweeted' nearly 800 times and 'favourited' 663 times.
Considered one of the best batsmen of all time, Sangakkara had travelled to the UK to join the Surrey cricket team for the County Championship. Without giving specific details of the incident, the 37-year-old was extremely critical of the service he received from a UK border official at Britain's busiest airport.
Need for vigilance
Sangakkara's second tweet read: "I understand the need for vigilance completely, but common courtesy and manners is not too much to ask for." However, despite the incident, he did say that this was just one bad experience in over 15 years of visiting the UK and all other immigration officers he encountered at the time 'were lovely.'
A further tweet posted on the social networking site read: "No matter colour, religion or fame, every well intentioned traveller deserves courtesy. Luckily for me it was one person and just this once."
Professionalism and courtesy expected
A spokesperson for the Home Office said: "All UK immigration officials have a duty to serve with the upmost professionalism and courtesy. Should we receive a complaint regarding Kumar Sangakkara's experience at Heathrow, we will of course thoroughly investigate the matter."
It's understood that Sangakkara, will not be lodging a complaint.
