Carrie’s confrontation

Commonwealth Games filler Rachel Carrie told Clay Shooting that staff at the Malmaison hotel in Dundee made her feel like a criminal.

She had been asked to attend Glasgow 2014 at last minute as a filler for squads with not enough members. Rachel said: “I got to the hotel at about 11pm with my shotgun in a locked hard case. Ten minutes after I’d checked in I received a call in the room saying someone had noticed I had a rifle, and I corrected them and said it was a shotgun, which they said was illegal so they called the police. When I got back down to reception the staff member was saying it was illegal in front of other people, which made me feel like a criminal.”

Rachel has travelled around the country and the world checking into hotels and never had a problem, but when police arrived they said it was definitely against the law, and that the law was different in Scotland. She accompanied officers to the police station where they took personal details from her for more than an hour and the police admitted that she hadn’t broken the law.

Upon returning, the Malmaison hotel presented her with a copy of a detailed no shotgun policy.

The hotel released the following statement: “It is Malmaison company policy not to allow guns in the bedrooms, in accordance with Home Office advice.” The hotel has refunded Rachel’s first-night stay.

The British Association of Shooting & Conservation has raised concerns over the treatment of Rachel and written to the hotel and the British Hospitality Association to prevent such incidents from happening again. BASC chief executive Richard Ali said: “Rachel was subjected to a thoroughly unpleasant experience. We trust lessons will be learned.”

The shooter was interviewed on last night’s BBC Look North, and the story has attracted national media coverage. Apart from the ordeal, Rachel enjoyed her time at Barry Buddon and said: “I loved the Games. I only recently changed from Sporting to Olympic Trap, but I felt right at home there and wasn’t fazed at all. Hopefully I can do it again in four years time.”