james hayward had arrived at east midlands airport with his parents , phil , 44 , and hazel , 38 , with his brightly coloured toy - which fires sponge darts - packed in his luggage for their flight out to lanzarote .
but security officers , who were described as ` over-zealous ' by the boy 's father , then took exception to james 's harmless toy when it was picked up on the system 's x-ray machines .
they also performed a thorough patting down and inspection of the primary school child .
dad phil has labelled the security checks ` ludicrous ' and criticized how staff reacted in the situation .