One of my hobbies in recent years has been photoing tourists in London as they indulge in photography. And, given the harassment I am starting to get from uniformed persons as I wander about London snapping whatever I feel like snapping, I have for quite a while now been wondering how long it would be before I ran into a news story about the police harassing foreign tourists for taking photos and hence undermining London’s reputation as a nice place to visit.
The wait is over:
In a telephone interview from his home in Vienna, Matka said: “I’ve never had these experiences anywhere, never in the world, not even in Communist countries.”
He described his horror as he and his 15-year-old son were forced to delete all transport-related pictures on their cameras, including images of Vauxhall underground station.
“Google Street View is allowed to show any details of our cities on the world wide web,” he said. “But a father and his son are not allowed to take pictures of famous London landmarks.”
He said he would not return to London again after the incident, …
You know how really shitty governments don’t care what their own citizens say about them, but can sometimes be slightly shamed by what the foreigners say? Well, I tried googling “Klaus Matka”, and got to a number of foreign versions of the same story, so this harassment is already being somewhat noticed elsewhere. The forbidding of photos of London’s famed double decker buses (“bus rossi a due piani”) is being particularly talked about. I hope this story goes right round the world, carrying with it the message of just what ghastly people now rule us.
I wonder what London Mayor Boris Johnson thinks about this.
I suspect there will be no reactions at all from those who rule us with a bent rule of iron. They have no connection to ordinary people (despite what they say) and their grubby minders will protect them from ever knowing how little their own citizens – and now other nations – think of them.
They are arrogant and isolated and don’t care in any way. It was probably always thus with governments but it is increasingly more apparent these days.
I would like to humbly apologise to the world for our TOTALLY CORRUPT & CRAP LABOUR GOVERNMENT.
It really has become an embarrassment to be a British citizen.
Hopefully they will be gone for ever quite soon and we can start to rebuild our country again into a place that ‘human beings’ would recognise.
God but Labour are so AWFUL.
Brian,
I’m vaguely surprised you haven’t had your collar felt already.
The Matka story is an absolute outrage. I was beside myself when I first read it. Whadda they gonna do inter bloody trainspotters next. For 42 days?
Hey here’s an idea. Remember the “atheist buses”? How about a similar bus ad campaign: “The government says you shouldn’t photograph this bus” or something.
When I read this sort of stuff the idea of Broon invoking the CCA seems less the stuff of net conspiracy types.
Isn’t it, even now, ultra vires for the cops to demand you delete photographs from your camera?
Were these actually plastic plod? Or did the law change again while I wasn’t watching?
From the linked article: “Jenny Jones, a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority … made the point that if it was not for people taking photos, we would not know about the death of Ian Tomlinson or the woman who was hit by a police officer.”
She doesn’t seem to understand that this is a feature of the new laws, not a bug.
Did anyone ever stop to ask if the “police” who forced the tourists to erase the photos were a) really police? and b) were actually enforcing an actual law, as opposed to just making something up in order to “have some fun” with some tourists?
Jus’ askin’.
Perhaps it is time for Brits to have a coordinated tea party-like event of their own… a picture taking party?
Nothing says stupid law like thousands of people hitting the streets with a camera and then printing/emailing the photos to the government, showing an avalanche of resistance.
Y’all have camera phones, right? Just do it.
Of course “they” want to ban pictures of Routemasters. They are well engineered, handsome and robust. Can’t possibly have been built by, in and for Britain. They show up all the mediocre crates being bought at great expense. Must erase history. Must demand all things British to be considered inferior. Remember: we have an Empire to atone for!
This is why I made my comments about torture the other day. Are any of the people who defended such practices happy that these cunts can use such powers? Anyone?
Apologies for my rude word here, but in the circumstances….
BTW, I understand that the law about being banned from photographing coppers is not as cut and dried as it appears. That is also a mark of a capricious regime: it can make up the law as it goes along.
Exactly JP. Being capricious is a standard tactic of totalitarians. Keep everyone frightened because they don’t know if they’re breaking the law or not.
And as to your swear word… Have a look at what Old Holborn is up to…
How long before the British police end up as hated as the old East German Stasi, whom they increasingly resemble with each day that passes.
Damn fine idea mrs Du Toit!
When and where shall we do it?
A new Mall called the Cabot Circus opened in the centre of Bristol last year(just in time for the Recession tee hee).
Well the wife is a bit of an artist, and loves taking photos, so she went down to take a few of the new architectural splendor, and yes you guessed it, the plastic plod were all over her like a rash.
A bit of guile and chutspah comes in handy sometimes though!
She carries one of my old Press Cards, for just such occasions.
She flashed it at them, and said,
I am a journalist on assignment and a very tight deadline, now kindly get out my way!
And they did!
Has anyone got any idea just why the NuLabor stazi have got a bee in their bonnet about people taking photos of buses and trains? Is it to do with “security” in some way? Did the 7/7 bombers need to take photos of buses and trains? I thought their plan went along the lines of: get on tube, blow up infidels, collect 72 virgins. Not much need for a detailed photo recce there.
Anyway, this looks like a test for BoJo. What are you going to do about it old bean? If Londoners had wanted a mean spirited authoritarian fuck as mayor, they’d surely have voted for Red Ken.
I can remember being told in communist era Hungary by a Hungarian friend that it was illegal to photograph railway stations and the like.
But he also told me that he had been unaware of the law himself until he had been stopped from doing the same thing himself by a policeman, so I suspect that the law wasn’t that stringently enforced.
Our lot seem to be modelling themselves on the old East Germans, who as I recall were looked on as ludicrously OTT in Hungary at the time.
In reply to Marc, we know of course that they weren’t enforcing any actual existing law. That doesn’t matter these days – merely having the law on your side is not nearly enough to feel safe getting into a disagreement with a police officer over, even if you’re a local, never mind a foreign tourist.
Fascism is becoming normal.
Don’t waste your life fighting it.
Just make sure you are employed by the state and keep yopu nose clean.
RAB, why not post a blank copy of a press card somewhere on the internet so everyone can have one, too?
There seems to be a growing practice of the police setting up checkpoints to flag down vehicles and check them over for roadworthyness. I got caught by one of these while out on my motorcycle, though I resent this I managed to remain cheerful and polite. They tried to tell me that my chain was too slack, I explained that it does appear quite slack but it is set up with 34-40mm deflection midway along its length precisely as detailed in the owners manual and they seemed to accept that I knew what I was talking about and after making sure all my lights worked they let me go. I have since pondered on the legality of this proceedure, I thought that they were supposed to have reasonable suspicion that some kind of offence has been committed.
Tim Carpenter.
The Hinckley Triumph is a superb piece of kit as well.
I was curious about the actual legality of this nonsense myself and poked around until I turned up this:
The “whole of London,” Dude. As per this report from April 7.
Utterly, entirely insane. But, reported in the same article, there is no power to actually destroy or delete pictures:
Maybe not on a scrap of paper, but out in the whole of London and about, the power seems real enough to be exercised.
The more I read about all this, the crazier it gets. The particular link I’ve given doesn’t touch on a whole ‘nother facet of fascism and confusion — Section 76 of the Counter Terrorism Act, which criminalizes photography of any policeman and, by extension, any of the picturesque areas wherein he is positioned.
Gee willikers. And coordinated protest has yet to slow the slide into madness.
Sorry Laird mate!
But I had to sit through about twelve hours of interminable boredom and tongue biting frustration over three meetings down at the Evening Post freelancers bar, to get my NUJ card. Try listening to some wanker expressing solidarity with the Sandinistas (yes it was that long ago) and proposing to send a 10 bob postal order to them to help the cause, all just to get accreditation!(no wonder our Press is biased)
If you want a “get out of Jail Free” card, or a “Get in for Free” card, as I call it, you are going to have to work for it, just like I did.
The wife is a special case, a certain amount of sexual favours tend to be involved there! 😉
Why not draw up your own press card? I can’t imagine any of these plastic police mooks have got the first idea of what one looks like.
JohnK,
They do get told. There’s also a phone line they can call to verify them. But you may well be able to bluff your way past the ones who weren’t paying attention in class.
I’m not quite sure what their reaction would be if they caught you out, though.
But if you want to know what they look like, see here.
www .idbureau .com /Press /UKPressCardAuthorityPosterV2.pdf
RAB, I meant post a blank one so people can make their own. Thanks, Pa Annoyed, now I know what one looks like. I guess making up a fake one will be a little more work than I thought (color photo and all), but it still might be worth the effort if you’re going to be taking pictures.
Laird,
I’ve been told there are new ones coming out with security holograms on them.
Seriously, I think people might be better off carrying around copies of the relevant statutes of Parliament and legal opinions.
See for example the debate here:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/?id=2009-04-01a.262.0
Pa:
We are all European now. I think I might quite like a Bulgarian press card. I do like a bit of Cyrillic.
I think you are right though, knowledge of the law is the best defence, I doubt plastic police know much. I have been amazed at the speed at which the myth that you cannot now photograph a copper has entered the mainstream and been accepted as fact. In true British style, people moan about it, shrug their shoulders and move on. Stick a fork in us, we’re done.
If I take a pic the next time in London, and am told to stop and/or delete all my pics, I’ll tell the Plod to fuck off.
What follows is up to him. Might as well die / be imprisoned for that freedom, as any other.
I’m old, cranky, and have little to lose. The most dangerous kind of citizen.
Me and my bloody anecdotes, I wish I had never mentioned it now!
Pa and John K are both correct.
Pa for saying that knowing the law is the best defence(doesn’t quite work for foreign tourists though) and JK for saying you could show them a bus pass even, and get away with it (not that there should be anything to “get away with” you understand).
The last Plastic Plod I encountered, I swear was an illegal immigrant from North Korea!(well if you are in the market for make it up as they go along morons to keep the peace, it’s probably a good recruiting ground)
Who barely spoke English, I doubt if he could read much.
Yep just show them your Tescos savers card, they’ll waive you right through!
I was recently visiting the Imperial War Museum North, where they were selling blank copies of the old wartime ID card for £1, so I bought one and put my details on it. If anyone asks me for ID I’ll show them that, I’m not seeking to con anyone, since I’ve put my real name and address on the card.
As for Kim, I pity the fool who tries to stop him taking photos of a London bus!