UK law on flying in your local park & over private land

There is no law of trespass in England, believe it or not. They can ask you to leave but it’s not against the law. If you refuse and the cops are called they might do you on a charge of disturbing the peace or something if you are shouting, but there is o ly a, law of trespass on property owned by the Queen, and railways.

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Only against the person.

Book Marked

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You always have an alternative :thinking:

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Who let you into my home anyway? Either that Is trespass or an invasion of my Privacy

expect to be hearing from my Solicitor

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There are several laws of trespass in England. The trespass I was referring to falls under tort law, but it is still law all the same and you can be taken to court. It’s just not criminal law i.e. you can’t be arrested, charged, prosecuted or convicted.

The police can get involved in several circumstances over and above potential breach of the peace e.g. breach of CJPOA 1994; if damage is caused to property; protected sites under SOCPA 2005 (these include several Royal sites); and, as you say, railway property.

If it’s just civil trespass, the landowner can use “reasonable” force to eject you if you refuse to leave when requested, and can sue you in court for costs. In reality, this is pretty weak, which is why the current government is looking to criminalise a wider range of trespass.

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Any examples ?

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You don’t really get examples with civil law, as it’s generally based on previous case history rather than statute law, but there’s a reasonable introduction to the different issues with civil trespass and criminal trespass here.

I’ve trespassed both aerially and on foot for several photos I’ve shared on this site, so I’m not suggesting it’s any kind of big deal, but I like to be informed in case I ever do encounter any hassle, and I definitely want to avoid the kinds of things that count as criminal trespass.

If you want detailed examples of different criminal laws, I’ll do a more thorough post some time, I’ve counted at least six statutes that create a criminal trespass offence.

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But do watch out for this government to change things. Their manifesto says they will make deliberate trespass a criminal offence. Mainly to make removal of travellers on illegal sites easier. That will affect us!!! If it happens

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Me on seeing this …

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Just to add to this.


It’s a bit old and mainly aimed at taking photographs, not relating to flying. But interesting all the same

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Northampton, Milton Keynes and Norfolk all have bylaws preventing you flying on any land they own.

Northampton go as far as to even say on their website they are unlikely to grant a permission so don’t even both ask.

What’s the point of owning a drone, if you can’t fly it in the U.K.

The U.K. is too up right about drones, you can fly off the coast, in the woods, or basically any public space.

You need to find private land, Nd then find the owner of the private land to get permission, and that only works if it’s not near some restricted air space.

This seems to be a bit of a joke to me.

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They may own the land, but the CAA control the airspace above it.
Providing you follow the Drone Code, the rest is up to you.
First time I have heard that about Norfolk, and I bloody live here !, and have flown drones just about everywhere, and any where I felt like it here !.

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Not in England. https://www.balfour-manson.co.uk/news-plus-events/comments/2013/12/private-airspace-is-your-garden-privacy-under-threat/

You’ve taken one sentence a little out of context :grin:. I said:

Everyone owns the airspace above their land. However, if you fly at a reasonable height so as not to cause serious disturbance, that’s a legal defence against trespass. If you fly low and cause disturbance, the landowner can, in theory, sue you for nuisance trespass.

The link you shared says basically the same thing. Bernstein vs Sky Views didn’t eliminate property rights over airspace, it restricted a landowner’s rights to take action against trespass by aircraft, and the Civil Aviation Act 1982 s.76 brought that principle into legislation. The landowner retained any existing rights over their airspace.

You do “own” (or have “property rights” over) the airspace over your land. Ownership allows you to seek enforcement of your rights against trespass, which is why others can be prevented from building a treehouse that overhangs your land, a bridge that passes above your land, or a sign that overhangs your land, for example. If a drone flies at a height that interferes with reasonable enjoyment of your land, then in England and Wales you can go to court to take action against the trespass - you can only do so because you do have those property rights over your airspace. All the Civil Aviation Act does is give pilots a defence against the owner’s trespass action in court, if the flight is high enough to be “reasonable … in all the circumstances”.

The Civil Aviation Act applies to Scotland as well as England and Wales, so I think there’s no real difference between the different jurisdictions, at least as far as this issue goes.

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Bolton is ok , I dont get any problems

No they do not

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Oh yes they do (cue pantomime cheering).

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Absolutely, with the defining phrase being “up to a height that interferes with the reasonable enjoyment of your land”.

This means that if you overfly land at say 80m then the landowner can really do very little about it and has very little recourse.

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Chill, people! So unimportant against the current background and whilst the vast majority of us aren’t in a position to fly, anyway.

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