Friday, January 18, 2013

Members of the public taking pictures of staff without permission

To advise that it has been brought to our attention that members of the public have been taking pictures of staff members without asking permission.

This has been raised at Company Council level and was informed by the Company that British Transport police have advised them that this is not against the law to carry this out.

To advise that we have now asked for a legal opinion from the Union solicitors to see if what BTP are saying us correct.

As soon as we get a response on this we will update you further.

5 comments:

shauncwalsh said...

Generally there is no legally enforceable expectation of privacy when in a public place. If I'm in a public place, anyone can photograph me.

Unknown said...

Public place is a red herring.

Railway stations are private land and landowners or managers can apply whatever they like.

Railway stations are private land to which members of the public may have access subject to the terms and conditions applied by the owners.

There is no automatic right to photograph staff at work by any member of the public on private land.

shauncwalsh said...

Indeed, when on private property your access is conditional upon compliance with terms and conditions of the owners. If one of those conditions is a restriction on photography you may be asked to leave if you contravene the regulations.
Network Rails web page states
You can take photographs at stations provided you do not sell them. However, you are not allowed to take photographs of security related equipment, such as CCTV cameras.

Flash photography on platforms is not allowed at any time. It can distract train drivers & train despatch staff and so is potentially very dangerous.

Tripod legs must be kept away from platform edges and behind the yellow lines. On busy stations, you may not be allowed to use a tripod because it could be a dangerous obstruction to passengers.
So it looks like there should be no problem with photography. Photographs of Network rail proerty taken from public land would not be restricted.

Anonymous said...

If it'a public place, I can photograph whatever I want. So none of your left-wing police State nonsense.

Anonymous said...

If it'a public place, I can photograph whatever I want. So none of your left-wing police State nonsense.