I recently arrived at Aberdeen Airport after a long and delayed international flight.

As usual after passport control I found the one baggage carrousel serving international flights and beyond the carrousel the baggage trolleys.

As I and my travel companion had checked in heavy baggage I tried to get a baggage trolley, but I found that this was not possible because I needed a coin to release the baggage trolley.

Having just completed a long international flight, and having passed through numerous security checks, I had long since ditched any coins I might have had, and anyway as I was travelling from South East Asia none of the coins I might have started with would have fitted the coin slot. I believe one pound or one Euro coin would have done the trick.

I tried to exit the customs area through the customs lane to obtain an appropriate coin, the customs men understood the problem, but told me that I would not be allowed to return. So there I was stuck at the carrousel with no means of transporting my luggage through to the outside world.

WHAT ARE THE AIRPORT MANAGEMENT THINKING OF? Certainly not passenger convenience.

I have been travelling around the world for many years and the last time I faced a similar situation was when I flew into Benghazi in the early nineties, before the air embargo, yes that long ago.

The problem then was not coins but exchange controls. To obtain a baggage trolley in those days it was necessary to pay a small amount of cash to an attendant in the customs hall. However it was illegal to give foreign currency to a Libyan national and it was illegal for foreigners entering the Libya to bring any Libyan currency into the country.

I admit that these rules were not generally enforced and one could openly give the delighted attendant a US dollar bill, or less pleasing, pay the Libyan price requested, however both options were, at that time, illegal for foreigners entering the country.

The only legal way to obtain a baggage trolley at that time was to persuade a customs officer to allow you to pass through to the currency counter where it was possible, (it may have been compulsory), to buy Libyan currency and then to return to the customs area to pay the small fee for the trolley.

Well done to BAA for managing to duplicate a third world travelling experience from my youth, it really must have taken a lot of thought. The only difference being that in a third world country it is always possible to find a solution.