text: Four-year-old James Hayward had his toy gun confiscated at East Midlands Airport . A four-year-old boy was frisked by airport security and then forced to hand over his plastic nerf gun after it was deemed a security risk. 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 hand 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 demanded he hand it over, and 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. Mr Hayward, a software engineer, said: 'Fair enough they are thorough but it just seemed a bit ludicrous to take a plastic gun away from a four-year-old. 'We were so late by this point I didn't have time to stop and argue with them so we just had to leave it because we didn't want to miss our flight. 'I explained to James we would get him a new one when we got back from our holiday. We were going for 10 days in Lanzarote over Easter. 'I thought it was a bit over-zealous of the security staff considering how many people were trying to get through at the time. 'No wonder it was taking so long if they wanted to pat down every little kid. Scroll down for video . After returning from the holiday to Lanzarote, the four-year-old boy was bought a replacement toy gun . The smile is back on James Hayward's face following the confiscation of his toy gun at East Midlands Airport . The £6 plastic gadget was described as a semi-automatic soft dart gun by its manufacturers, and James was bought a new one off eBay when the family returned from their holidays. East Midlands Airport apologised for the inconvenience but pointed out they had offered to post the toy back to the family's home in Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Defending the decision a spokeswoman said: 'The safety and security of our passengers is our first priority and all regulations on security are set by the government. 'This regulation states that no items may be permitted through security that resemble a prohibited item.' The hand luggage restrictions on all UK flights is set by the Department of Transport, and while there is no specific mention of models and makes of such 'toy guns,' the prohibited list does include 'replica or model guns.' East Midlands Airport said that 'no items may be permitted through security that resemble a prohibited item'
target: James Hayward was flying with parents Phil and Hazel to Lanzarote .
  But X-ray machine picked out his nerf toy gun on security scan .
  Four-year-old was then patted down and forced to hand over toy .
  Airport insist they have offered to post the item back to boy's home in Doncaster, South Yorkshire .