Tattoos are commonplace these days, and it’s not unusual to see someone with multiple inkings all over their body.
But ‘Britain’s most tattooed man’ says that every single time he gets on public transport, people refuse to sit next to him, and he’s constantly having to “challenge” people slyly taking snaps of him in secret.
The man, named King Of Ink Land King Body Art The Extreme Ink-Ite, has spent over a whopping 1,600 hours under the needle.
And while he doesn’t regret his heavily tattooed appearance, the 45-year-old has shared there are a few situations where his tattoos can cause problems. One is when he’s out and about in his hometown of Birmingham, and another is when he’s going through airport security to travel abroad.
He said: “I see people spot an empty seat next to me, and then when they see what I look like, they sometimes decide to stand and not sit next to me. But most trains and buses are overrun these days, so they don’t have a choice.
“I also regularly spot people aiming their phones at me and snapping a photo. It happened the other day as I was waiting at the bus stop.
“Most of the time, I challenge people when they do this. It sometimes leads to a heated argument, and I’ve had a lot of attitude thrown back into my face.
“It’s so blatant; they position themselves in odd angles, or they still have their sound on. Sometimes, it’s how you deal with these situations and people that make all the difference, especially when you look like me. But I wish people would just ask if they want to take a photo of me”.
King of Ink Land has also had some run-ins at airport security thanks to the way he looks.
“I once flew into Australia and was stopped by immigration immediately,” he admitted, saying: “They thought I was going there to work because of the way I look.
“I had to explain that I was seeing family, and they asked to see my social media and all my contacts before letting me through.”
And this isn’t the only time he claims to have been stopped at the airport. He said: “Once, I had to run to a connecting flight and my passport photo was different to how I looked, as I just had my eyes inked.
“So they took ages checking it over and even called the military police. I almost missed my flight, but luckily, they understood and eventually let me through”.
He even claimed that he wasn’t allowed “into a posh building” because of his tattoos when he was in Sydney. For them to let him in, he had to “prove” that he wasn’t “affiliated with a gang”.
King of Ink Land says issues with security are 50/50. It depends on if people recognise him and usually, how he’s dressed. But he said he won’t let any judgemental reactions get in his way.
“I normally turn my back on anybody acting in a certain way around me now,” he admitted, saying: “Any photos or videos sneakily being taken are only going to be sent to a group chat for people to air their opinions.
“It’s not going to hold me back in life, as I respect people, and as long as they do the same for me, that’s all that matters”.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.