Hassle at football stadium - Flying my drone

Legal & Privacy
1

I have had enough of getting hassled at football stadiums.

To the point where I got hassled on Sunday morning filming stadium developments at one, where i have been many times and had varying degress of hassle from security.

But this one went too far.

I was standing on a public raod near a quiter end of the stand, jsut to avoid this sort of thing,

I got one battery used, and just sent the second one up, when a guy walks to me and says nice drone.
At first I didnt know he was security, no badge, hi viz etc, no introduction.

The next words are you cant fly that here.

This led to a raised voice discussion that led to me bringing the drone done, as he clearly wasnt going to let up.

I said I expect an apology when i have shown him the rules.

Nearly 30 minutes later, he was apologising as he didnt know the rules, but now he did.

My mood had changed, and it had ruined my flying.
I put the drone up for another 10 minutes jsut to prove a point, but wasnt paying any attention to what I was filming.

I had my go pro in my pocket and took that out after maybe 10 minutes of the conversation to cover myself. Thankfully it captured everything, which was lucky as it was just leaning up the wall.

In future I will wear it on my chest all the time, not something I want to do, but it seems it is now a must.

On watching back the footage, I was disgusted at this guys attitudem especially as I knew the worst of it was before I started recording.

I emailed the football club asking them to investigate, explaining I was flying legally from a public place and this wasnt accepteable.

I also pointed out that the guy had sdaid “we are recording you” - but there were no signs anywhere indicating the presence of a cctv system. And why should it be poiting at me, across the the road from the stadium.

Today I received a reply.

The Head of Legal and Governace replied, responding to 4 points I raised.
The first, I brused off as ok, he is looking into those.

The 4th point was he quoted the Drone and Model Aircraft Code published by the UK Civil Aviation Authority in October 2019 and last updated in March 2024.

“You must keep a minimum horizontal distance of 50m between your drone or model aircraft and people”; that you should “never fly over people who are crowded together” (giving sports events as an example); and that you must “keep at least 150m away from residential, recreational, commercial and industrial sites”, including sports facilities.

Obviousluy he chose to ignore the 250g section below, or had not read it properly…take your pick.

I responded with snips form the same document showing the exceptions for 250g drones.

His reponse to this was claiming I had flown over crowds and endangering people.
Again, i responded with the CAA definition of a crowd, and it is not 5 people working on a building site.

He has also asked for my Flyer ID and operator ID. Again showing his ignorance as I corrected him that you do not require a flyer ID for a sub 250 drone, although I do have one.

I asked him why he wanted these, to which I have not had a response.

He also asked for a photo of me so that he can check the footage back to see if they have me on the CCTV as I have made a SAR.

Now, initially, I was okay with that, but if I am on their system like the guy said, it would be easy enough to find me,

To say I am pi%%ed of with this is an understatement

I am not going to decist from flying over the ground as he requested, and have already told him so, as I will not stop something that I am legally entitled to do becasue they do not want me to.

Im waiting for a response.
Lets see what happens next.

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2

That’s the point you don’t engage and go about your business. I would have….

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3

Tell him where you were and at what time. He’ll be able to find you.

I’d also ask for a copy of their surveillance and GDPR policy.

(Just my 2p worth, I deal with these all day long on the other end)

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4

Don’t stand with a drone controller where you can easily be seen.
Find a hiding spot away from people.

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5

Alternatively stand confidently where you want to, wear work clothes and a hi-viz vest and when approached say “Stand back mate, you’ll spoil the survey. Talk to you after, yeah?”

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6

Thats the one I tried, but he was so in my face, he was not going to drop it and leave me to it.

7

Thank you.
He has already acknowledged there is no signage in place due to the ongoing works, and stated he does not know if they will still have the footage (even if they find any)
I thought they had to retain it for a minimum duration?

8

Why hide, it’s a sub 249g drone, and i would think he would look more suspicious hiding the fact. then it may give them the idea he’s doing something he shouldn’t

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9

Depends on their policy

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10

Andy, don’t forget about Good 2 Go in situations like this.

It very clearly explains not only if you can fly a particular drone there, but it also documents why you can fly there.

It’s ideal for showing to the ill informed of the world :slight_smile:

Was it a building site local to us? Are you planning a meet up there? :smile:

4 Likes
11

Mass lift off. :grin:

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12

No, I wish it was closer or I would be back tomorrow.
Its almost two hours from me, Its a stadium in Birmingham…

I will take a screenshot of Good To Go and attach it to my next email, thanks for the tip.

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13

It’s got various “share” options when you’re on the results screen, it can email you etc :slight_smile:

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14

Just ask him if he always challenges the local authority planning department going about their duties?

If he says no, reply ‘great’ and carry on!

Just don’t say that you are actually from the local authority :joy: :joy:

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15

Similar to “I would not expect this behaviour from one of my newest constables, I certainly wouldn’t expect it from you!”

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16

Yeah, let’s hide from a lawful activity in a public place. :roll_eyes:

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17

Not at all sure about this. On one level it sounds like a good way avoiding confrontation, but on another it makes you look furtive and guilty. If I were security and took my job at all seriously, I would certainly be on your case if I found you operating a drone from a hidden position, and assume you were up to no good, despite the fact that you are legally entitled to fly it from anywhere you like so long as you can maintain VLOS.

It might have been worth making the point that, by distracting you while you were flying, he was creating a hazardous situation for anyone underneath, including himself. The CAA require you to pay fulll attention to your aircraft at all times while it is being flown; of course, we all glance at the screen for information in the same way as the pilot of a manned aircraft consults his instruments, but converstaion will require several seconds not properly observing the drone, and a lot can happing in several seconds if you’re not paying attention…

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18

Lawful activity it may be, but if you don’t want to be harrassed for flying your drone,
just don’t encourage morons to harrass you by standing out in the street where they can see you.

19

Aston Villa by any chance, or the City?

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20

Plenty of us close to Birmingham if you wanted to arrange a meet there I’d be down :ok_hand:t2:

@Hotrodspike
@Foley
@FoleyMrs
@Steviegeek

I’m sure if the time and date suited we could stick it to the man! :rofl:

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