I didn't have a gun, says Street star
Coronation Street star Nigel Pivaro, who is to meet detectives later today to discuss allegations that he tried to take a gun on a cross-channel Hovercraft, has insisted that the item was not a weapon.
The actor, who plays bad boy Terry Duckworth in the soap, said the incident would be cleared up once he had spoken to police this afternoon.
He said: ‘‘I am very shocked by the excessive and intrusive media interest and speculation without seeing the other side to the story.
‘‘My duty now is to respond to the police and to go to see them. When they contacted me yesterday I agreed to go to a pre-arranged meeting today in Kent, which I am complying with now.
‘‘My side of events and any denial that might be necessary and anything that might have been misconstrued will be to the police first ... my obligation is to go and speak to the authorities and to allay any concerns they may have.’’
Asked if he had been carrying a gun he replied: ‘‘It was not a gun ... my obligations are to the authorities and hopefully we can put matters straight between us.’’
The drama began when Pivaro checked in for the 4pm crossing from Dover, and was asked to go through routine security checks.
Hoverspeed spokesman Nick Stevens said he was taken to the search and security area, where he was given a frisk search.
‘‘Our male search team member then said to him, ‘You seem to be wearing a shoulder holster with a gun’, to which he began to reply that it was either imitation or replica,’’ he said.
‘‘At that moment he then jumped into the car and sped off at the rate of knots out of the Hoverport.’’
Kent Police said the man, who was ‘‘nervous and agitated’’ did a U-turn and drove through security checks and bollards in his Audi A4 car, driving at 45mph in a 15mph area.
But Pivaro told GMTV he decided to drive away because he ‘‘had had enough’’ with security procedures at the Hoverport and ‘‘did not like the way he was treated’’ by security guards.
