OVERSEAS arrivals at Edinburgh Airport are getting a chilly reception, if a scene I witnessed this week is typical.

Disembarking with a crowd of happy Spanish holidaymakers, ready to experience Scotland’s legendary warm welcome, we got anything but.

The Border Agency guards barked orders in the swanky new arrivals hall. Go here ... go there ... do this ... do that ... have your passports, they shouted.

I have been flying for nearly 60 years and never experienced such rudeness. Most airports have polite signage. But not Edinburgh.

I don’t know if this is airport or Border Agency policy but whoever is responsible, it is crass and seems cold and authoritarian.

Perhaps the concern is that passengers won’t grasp the arrivals hall’s new high-tech systems? I found them confusing myself, despite all the shouting. But it is time for a rethink; if this had been my first impression of Scotland, I would not be keen to come back.

Michael Lloyd,

4 Stanley Place, Dunbar.