An interesting take on the law from Oxfordshire County Council

Do they accept contactless ?

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Or 20 lashes :joy:

The document is from 1962, so clearly up to date!

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Some would pay good money for 20 lashes :face_with_spiral_eyes:

Sounds like a man of experience.

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Most would know where to go get it for free :wink:

(If that’s your thing)

Definitely sounds like a man of experience.

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It’s not just the ‘whipee’ who gets off on it.

Different stokes, quite literally.

There’s a site somewhere where a barrister outlines the laws on photography, as so many people see someone with a camera and immediately assume ‘that shouldn’t be allowed’ despite all the photos they take with their phones. In UK law it is legal to photograph people in a public place, including children AS LONG AS THE PICTURES ARE NOT INDECENT. People have no right to privacy in a public place - clue’s in the name ‘public’. It’s legal to photograph private property from a public place too, even if the pictures are to be sold. Check out Bernstein v Skyviews 1974. I keep a printout of that website in my kit!

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And it’s worth bearing in mind that for the purposes of the definition of “a public space” airspace is essentially inherently a public space.

There are some limitations though like photographing people identifiably in residential dwelling places - which includes their gardens etc.

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Yes true, although to photograph someone close up with a drone with the usual wide angle lens they have you’d have to be about ten feet away! They probably would have cause to complain about that!

I cannot see ANY reference to overflying . I would fly my drone according to the CAA Drone Code making sure that I do not TOAL from Council Property. However I firmly believe that the Council does not own any property they hold property on behalf of the people living under that authority. Cheers Len

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That’s essentially what the judge said in Hall v. Beckenham. Councils are trustees of land for the benefit of the public, not ordinary landowners.

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Hi, what everybody seems to be missing with all this is if the Council or whoever sees you flying, even if you are flying quite legally and have all the requirements, checked everything, if they aren’t happy and call the Police, they are likely to attend as most police authorities starting point with UAV flying is you are probably doing something illegal.
If the police do turn up you have very little chance of arguing your point about “Vehicles” and is it a vehicle for example, the police don’t care, they have no clue to the rules generally, if the Council or whoever said you are in the wrong they will normally go with that.
So my point is, the Police are the ones who need educating, not the Councils, not the CAA as they would never turn up, just the Police.
So I am currently liaising with my local police authority and their UAV team to educate their call handlers to interrogate the caller as to what they think the flyer is doing wrong, if the call centre staff have some idea most instances can be stopped before they start, to educate plod on the beat to the Drone Code at least and UAV weights, common bylaw myths, air space is the CAA and nobody else, photography and video can basically be carried out anywhere, if all this is put in place life will be a lot easier for all of us. I’ll let you know…

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Most police forces have their own drone teams these days so I don’t fully agree with the above. Plus by the time the police arrive you’ll probably be long gone. They don’t even come out to burglaries anymore. They won’t be in a rush to chat to a drone pilot in a park.

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The police fight fires. They don’t necessarily stop them from starting. I suppose they just fizzle out by themselves :wink:

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If every call handler knew every law they wouldn’t be call handlers. They would be solicitors and judges. They need to be cut some slack. They just triage stuff on the basis of how much of an emergency situation it is. A drone pilot in a park is not an emergency which is the best you can expect from them. Not for them to know the know the inside out of cap722. Hence the police won’t show up for hours, and the one that does probably will know the basics from attending briefings from his drone team.

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While I’m ranting as been on the pop. I don’t get why people engage with authorities. Just fly your drone. You know you’re within your rights and your prepared to deal with confrontation if you need too. Even if you are in the wrong we know 99% you apologise and show some remorse and your back off on your merry way with your equipment in hand. Only when you fly in an frz are you likely to get kit confiscated.

So why voluntarily put a red flag on yourself.

What pop? :grin: My dad saw jimmy S. He was on top of me pops :rofl:

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