(CNN) — Heathrow Airport has apologized to a UK television presenter who was asked to publicly strip to her underwear by staff.

Mary Beard, a classics professor, and author and broadcaster, tweeted that she was required to go through security in a "little black vest, no bra" by staff as she passed through security.

"I was a bit surprised to be told to take off what I think is a 'tunic' (they thought was a 'jacket'... down to my scrappy undies," she wrote to her 237,000 followers.

She noted the "curiosity/embarrassment" of the travelers around her.

Beard didn't mention which terminal she was flying from, telling Heathrow's social media managers, who responded to her tweet, that "I have no desire to see the staff concerned told off."

She had prefaced her tweet with "I know rules are rules."

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But she suggested that "some general consciousness raising" might be in order for airport staff.

"Staff polite but insistent (following instructions I guess, don't want to get them into trouble)," she wrote.