Seeking permission to fly around cyfarthfa castle

Legal & Privacy
1

Email conversation

To whom it may concern,

My name is Carl Smith

My contact Number

My operator’s ID

Flier’s ID

I am an experienced/qualified licensed Drone pilot who is seeking permission to fly within the grounds of Cyfarthfa Park.
The reason I am asking for this permission is I would like to take some arial shots within in the grounds and obviously of the Castle.
I have visited the park on many occasions and taken some wonderful pictures, but the views from above would be breathtaking.
also, if you wish you can have copies of all pictures and mini videos taken.
Carl Smith

Hi Carl,
I understand you wish to fly a drone at Cyfarthfa Park. Please can you confirm the following:

  1. Would the aerial shots/videos be for personal or commercial use?

  2. What date do you wish to attend?

  3. How long do you wish to be in attendance?

Hi Bethan,
Firstly thank you for your response.
Yes there will be aerial photography also some short videos, also all footage will be made available to you if you require it.
All footage taken is strictly for my personal collection of drone photography/videos.
The dates are a bit sketchy as it’s going to be weather dependent, so looking forward I would say either Sunday 19th or Tue 26th of May.
My duration would be between 1 to 2 hrs if that would be ok.
Just to add I am a very safety conscious person, and respect the privacy of the general public.
Carl Smith

Hi Carl,
Both dates will be busy at the park as there is no school on either days. Therefore, an early morning session is preferable. I will write up a licence agreement for 9am to 11am and this will cost £50.
Please confirm if you agree with the above and I can send the filming licence upon receipt of all your Civil Aviation Documents and public liability insurance.
Bethan

Hi Bethan,
Can I ask why there is a £50 charge for this?

Hi Carl,
It’s the lowest licence fee we charge for filming on our land (it goes up to £1500 plus, depending on the nature of filming). I do note that your filming is for personal rather than commercial use so we are willing to give a reduction on the licence fee to £30.

Hi Bethan,

Thanks for getting back to me.
As I am just a hobbyist with a drone I was not expecting a charge for this.
I already have a licence that enables me to use the air space.
So I am going to decline this offer as I deem this as an unfair charge.
If I was going to make money off the footage then that is a different conversation.
Regards
Carl Smith
ARE THEY TRYING TO RIPPING ME OFF

2

Your problem was to ask, go and Toal from outside

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Yeah I just thought to do it correctly but now wish I did not :smirk:

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If you’re not on their land no need to ask

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You’d be surprised how many places want to charge. Film down the local canal and I wanted to “do the right thing” so asked the Canal and River Trust. Their reply was to fill in a form and pay a charge for permission to film from their towpaths. Also overflight of any river/ canal under their control was strictly forbidden ( at odds with CAA rules) I kindly declined the form filling and payment bit and took off from land they didn’t own/ control.

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I shared this piece of information with my mate Hilary Duff.

You know what she said?

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Yeah I thought it was a bit of a rip off

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Quite simply yes. TOAL from beyond their boundary and keep the separation distance.

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Make sure you share some of the watermarked pics with them after you have flown there :slight_smile:

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And tell them about YOUR £50 charge… naaa better still add a 0 £500 and go into fine detail on your charges for charging the battery, your time for the safety checks, and every little point you feel. Yes it is nice to ask but sometimes you get the wrong answer.

We recently went to a BBC fiming site that was open generally and no warnings to say we could not. Had a wander around and then asked the security who are up the road. They only asked the weight and if I had the operator ID. Then it was a case of… go for it. We can not stop you taking off from outside anyway, but I said I wanted to take off on site and they were fine. Problem is, you never know till you ask and if they say no it is harder to pretend you did not know.

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Ahh its only 7 miles from me. Never flown there.
But now ive seen this post im going to fly over there. Whilst standing outside. Just to make a point.

£50 is ridiculous.
Plenty of legit TOAL locations 200-300m from the castle.

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Haha I will race you there as I will be there tomorrow at some point :+1:t4: