She said: “There were just black people in the room, apart from one white lady. I was the first one in the room, she was about number 15, and she was seen to very quickly, while we all had to wait. We were given no food from 6.45am when we landed until 3pm, when they eventually gave us an out-of-date sandwich.”The detention room was filthy with crisp packets all over the floor. A white female officer came in and said ‘Were there animals in here or what?’ and then she said ‘Goodbye’ as if to say ‘Thank goodness you’re going’.”Officials told Ms Chitsaka that her answers during 13 hours of waiting and grilling did not tally with those of her cousin A stunned Mrs Gardener said: “Our mothers are sisters How could they not have tallied? They were so rude They didn’t even ask me anything. All they would know from my forms is that I was a nurse and that I was on maternity leave and that I was going back to work at the beginning of March. She didn’t ask me where I worked.”Ms Doolabh tells a similar tale. Arriving in Britain, she even had a letter from her employer saying she would be back at work in Harare on 18 April.

But by 6pm last Sunday, she too was back in the air and heading for Zimbabwe.Ms Doolabh alleges white passengers were “let through very nicely” by British immigration officials while blacks and Asians were herded to a room, questioned for hours and then deported.She said: “[The immigration officer] asked me why I was on leave when my country was ‘going down the drain’. I said my employer had granted me leave because he was happy with my performance.”Similar allegations of discriminatory treatment by British immigration staff have emerged from South African travellers.Evert Munsamy, 21, from Durban, who landed at Heathrow on 10 February, said: “There were only black people locked up in the back room – a few Asian South Africans, a few Africans and a whole group of Asian people who spoke a foreign language There was not a white among us. I’ve never been treated with such racism, not even in South Africa.” It was her first trip abroad.In the same room was Thuveshan Marimuthu, 21, a college student, also from Durban, who was turned away from a month-long holiday to visit his uncle, a doctor in Bournemouth. The air ticket was a 21st birthday present from his parents.After arriving at Heathrow, he said he was questioned by officials for six hours and held for 14 hours without food or drink “They were picking people of Indian and African origin No white man was picked,” he said.

“I was asked all sorts of questions, including whether I was seeking employment in London. They made a mockery of some items I had taken with me for my aunt. I was treated like a third-world citizen with no respect for my human dignity.”Mr Marimuthu’s passport was stamped – later overwritten with a cross – and he was allowed to spend the night with his uncle and aunt. They returned him to Heathrow the following day, as agreed, but he was still sent back.Mr Marimuthu had no intention of staying in the UK. He is in the middle of studies at a Durban college, is serving an apprenticeship in one of his father’s companies, and was booked to fly back in time for a major family celebration on 9 March. His father and uncle, who is a doctor at Royal Bournemouth Hospital, faxed Heathrow immigration to vouch for him.His father said: “I spoke several times to immigration officials on Sunday.