Street Photography Is Illegal In Middlesbrough
TO Middlesbrough with ’I Didn’t Mean To Go To Stoke’ and his camera. He takes up the story:
My friend and I were photographing in the town. I spotted a man being detained by this security guard and a policeman, some kind of altercation was going on, i looked through my zoom lens to see what was happening and then moved on.
Moments later as i walked away this goon jumped in front of me and demanded to know what i was doing. i explained that i was taking photos and it was my legal right to do so, he tried to stop me by shoulder charging me, my friend started taking photos of this, he then tried to detain us both. I refused to stand still so he grabbed my jacket and said i was breaking the law. Quickly a woman and a guy wearing BARGAIN MADNESS shirts joined in the melee and forcibly grabbed my friend and held him against his will. We were both informed that street photography was illegal in the town.
Illegal? But what of CCTV?
Two security guards from the nearby shopping center THE MALL came running over, we were surrounded by six hostile and aggressive security guards. They then said photographing shops was illegal and this was private land. I was angry at being grabbed by this man so i pushed him away, one of the men wearing a BARGAIN MADNESS shirt twisted my arm violently behind my back, i winced in pain and could hardly breathe in agony.
A policewomen was radioed and came over to question the two suspects ( the total detaining us had risen to seven, a large crowd had now gathered) The detaining guard released me, i asked the policewoman if my friend and i could be taken away from the six guards, she motioned us to a nearby seat and told all the security people to go. She took our details, name, address, date of birth etc.
She wanted to check my camera saying it was unlawful to photograph people in public, i told her this was rubbish. we agreed to come with her and we sat in the back of a police car, she radioed back to the station to check our details, i explained to her the law regarding photography and handed over a MOO card, i asked to take her picture and she said no. We were free to go with no charge. I may press charges for unlawful detention and physical assault by the security guards, watch this space.
luckily my friend videoed some of this so it can be used in evidence.
Here it is
www.flickr.com/photos/photodrift/2422740769/
Middlesbrough - seeing is never forgetting…
* Anorak once got menaced by goons at Canary Wharf. The police came. The police had guns…
April 23rd, 2008 at 12:30 pm
If it is ilegal to take pictures in a public place,then what about cctv in our towns,so the law is breaking the law????..lets sue them.
April 23rd, 2008 at 1:57 pm
It is NOT illegal to take photography in any “public” place in the UK- so long as you are standing on public land you can even take snapshots of people & buildings on private property with impunity.
The issue here is whether the thoroughfare is still publically owned or whether it has been privatised - eg some commercial outfit owns the land or has leased it from the council. Privatisation of previously public space is now endemic in the UK - just try taking a snap in a private shopping mall.
A nice slap back against ‘the man’ is to check the area for those signs which prevent us swigging a cool lager (god forbid) on a hot day - if the area is a “designated public place” for the purpose of preventing outdoor alcohol consumption then it is a designated public place in which you can snap away as much as you like - preferably looking-back-atcha video clips of CCTV cameras and security buffoons. Case closed m’lud
April 24th, 2008 at 12:00 am
best thing is don’t believe a word people tell you about things being unlawful or not, look it up for yourself.