James Buckley, famed for his role as Jay Cartwright in ‘The Inbetweeners’, had a run-in with US Airport Security who suspected him of drug smuggling when they discovered OXO gravy cubes wrapped in tin foil in his luggage.
The 37-year-old actor recounted the ordeal on The Buckleys podcast, which he hosts with his wife Clair, explaining that he now faces extra scrutiny when travelling to the States. He shared: “Anytime that I go to America, I have to, at the other end, open my suitcase up and show them everything that’s in the suitcase.”
He humorously added: “Not because I was smuggling drugs or anything cool like that. No, it was because I tried to get some OXO cubes into the country. And that was a big problem. When I go to America, I stay with (Clair’s) family. They’re Scottish.”
Clair chimed in: “My Auntie Dora wanted some OXO.” James elaborated on the request: “She was like, ‘Can you get us some OXO and some Bisto and bring that with you?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, absolutely.'”
He described the moment of confusion at security: “To be fair, OXO cubes are tiny little powder cubes wrapped up in tin foil, and they were like, ‘What is that?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, it’s gravy.’ And they took them from me.”
Despite US Airport Security being convinced that the beef gravy cubes James carried were not illicit substances, he was barred from bringing them into the country due to strict import laws on meat products.
He explained: “I wasn’t allowed to take them because it’s like beef, isn’t it? It’s a beef extract. So it’s like meat and veg, certain meat and vegetables you can’t take from one country to another.”
James also shared the inconvenience this has caused him on subsequent trips: “So now, anytime I go to America, I’m flagged straight away. I can’t just go straight through. I have to have this whole thing at the other end.”
James and his wife Clair, parents to Harrison, 13, and Jude, 11, once travelled to Florida and cleverly put all their suitcases under Clair’s name to sidestep the issue with US Airport Security upon arrival.
Clair recalled: “And then don’t you remember the last time when we went to Florida, you put everything in my name?” To which James confirmed: “I put all the suitcases under you.”
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