There is no such thing as “Right to Roam” There is the CROW (Countryside and Rights Of Way) Act for England and Wales. It applies to 5 areas of land. 1. Registered Common Land. 2. Mountain. 3. Heathland. 4. Foreshore. 5. Downland.The Act gives permission for access to the 5 areas as long as no damage is created but there is a lot more in the detail of the Act. As an example : it includes provisions for landowners to exclude or restrict access for any reason for up to 28 days a year without seeking permission.
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Found this —The freedom to roam, or “everyman’s right”, is the general public’s right to access certain public or privately owned land, lakes, and rivers for recreation and exercise. The right is sometimes called the right of public access to the wilderness or the “right to roam”
Quite a bit to unpack here.
I think that this is not the case. You are trespassing the moment you set foot on private land without an implied permission. Leaving a house door open is unlikely to be regarded as permission. If you repeatedly entered someone’s land and this was caught on CCTV, it doesn’t matter if they’ve got round to asking you to leave, they can still use this evidence in any action they take against you.
I don’t believe so. Aggravated trespass is a criminal offense and only applies if you intimidate, obstruct, or disrupt the activity of persons who are lawfully on the land - it’s intended to deal with hunt saboteurs, protesters etc. Whether or not you have climbed a fence or opened an unlocked door is irrelevant.
You see these signs often and 9 times out of 10 they are legally meaningless. You can’t be “prosecuted” for ordinary civil trespass, you can only be made to leave, or sued for damages if any were caused.
There are a host of criminal trespass offences for which you can be prosecuted, these are generally targetted at large groups, e.g. illegal raves and travellers’ camps. Plus railway offences as already mentioned.
Long lists of some of the trespasses which are actually criminal can be found here:
Generally speaking, most land is private, and unless it’s expressly open to the public, you’re trespassing by being there and should leave when asked. I often trespass in this way to get drone photos, I’ve never been asked to leave a place but certainly would if that happens.
Even if the land is open to the public, like a park, you are trespassing if you breach any terms that are attached to permission to be there e.g. there is a council sign or policy against flying drones there. Even if there is no such policy, the landowner can withdraw permission for you to be there whenever they want - it’s their land. There are only limited exceptions to this (e.g. you’re using a Right of Way, or your permission to be on the land is granted by contract e.g. an entrance ticket).
And of course you don’t have to be standing on the land to be trespassing. Flying a drone low enough over land to disturb the occupants is still trespass, just as is throwing a paper aeroplane into the land.
Short summary:
- it’s worth understanding which trespasses are actually criminal but most drone pilots are unlikely to trigger any of these;
- it’s worth finding out if public land has a policy against drone use, as that would make you a trespasser if you fly there;
- if you are trespassing, you just need to pack up and leave as soon as you’re asked.
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PS: for anyone who does value their ability to trespass in a way that causes no harm, note that the Tory government has a manifesto pledge to criminalise “intentional trespass”, which could make access to large parts of the countryside very difficult for ordinary, non-grouse-shooting people.
Information here:
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Finally someone who’s actually read the law rather than just making it up as they go along!
Also compare the difference in law between England and Scotland.
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And this is a great post too.
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Thank you. My avatar may give some indication as to why I need to know about such things, especially living quite close to an urban area.
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