"You're not allowed to take photographs with a tripod in ..."

Mohain

Mohain

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Guy Boden
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"... the City of London" was what I was told today by a 'Community Support Officer'!

I went to the Barbican Estate after work with my 30D & tripod, as I have done several times. After 10 mins I was stopped by a security guard and told I had to have permission to take photos in the Barbican Estate. I've shot there several time before, with my tripod, and have never been stopped before :shrug: I went to get permission from reception and all they did was take my name and phone security and tell them "Guy Boden has permission to take photographs in the Barbican Estate." No pass, no bit of paper, no asking what for, or looking at the phots I'd taken, just ... off you go! 20 mins wasted in that little round trip :razz:

An hour later I was stopped by the Community Support Officer and told that I wasn't allowed to use a tripod for photographty in the City of London without express written permission from the Corporation of London! He spent a few mins on his radio and told me that on this occasion it was OK but I should be aware I will probably be stopped a lot if I continue to use my tripod in London as London's Terror Threat Level was at 'Severe'.

I guess it must have been a slow day :LOL: where can you get those t-shirts again ;)
 
If you can't use your tripod you may as well send it up north. No such problems up here!........... and I promise to give it a good home....... :D


(y)
 
Invest in a Monopod then ;)




:p
 
That can happen anywhere.
Some councils are affraid someone may get hurt if they trip over your tripod.
It is a good idea to have some public liability insurance, and carry the certificate to prove it.
This shows your being responsible, and helps deflect any fears held by the party that may stop you.
 
Matt said:
That can happen anywhere.
Some councils are affraid someone may get hurt if they trip over your tripod.
It is a good idea to have some public liability insurance, and carry the certificate to prove it.
This shows your being responsible, and helps deflect any fears held by the party that may stop you.
Click to expand...

Good call Matt, I think I might have some with my insurance, will check!

Actually the tripod's got me into trouble before. I was walking in a park with it extended and slung over my shoulder walking towards a couple walking two dogs when one of them (an alsation) made a bolt for me jumped up at me and grabbed my wrist with it's mouth! I nearly swung for it, I'm sure 3kg of metal tripod would have hurt ;) The bloke shouted a command and the dog immediatly slunk back to it's owner. There was no blood or broken skin so I didn't make a fuss about it. I recon it must have been an off duty poice dog cop with his dog, it must have thought my tripod was a gun, it reacted immediately to his command. Did give me the willies tho! :cautious:
 
similar thing apply to the great court in the british museum. you'll need a pass to use a tripod in there. even then i kept getting asked by the guards
 
It is a good idea to have some public liability insurance, and carry the certificate to prove it.
Click to expand...

That would help and it's a good idea but it does smack of guilty until proven innocent.
 
On that basis it means that anyone who ever intends to use a tripod in a public place needs to get PL insurance, just in case some muppet from the blame society comes along and is too stupid to notice it and hurts themselves!
 
Apart from any other considerations if a cop approaches you over your tripod on the footpath, the highway or any pedestrian thoroughfare, there's a possible offence of obstruction, so discretion is the better part of valour in those circumstances anyway. A lot of private buildings wont allow tripods now for Health and Safety reasons. :shrug:
 
Hang on, yes, a tripod can cause an obstruction, but do we really think that is what these officers were saying?
Sorry, I don't buy it. :shake: The terror threat is 'severe' - for crying out loud, yes, maybe it is, but it always was, before the current crop of hellraisers it was the last lot from across that smaller bit of water. Doesn't this go back to thread we had running a few weeks about about togs being stopped and questioned?



Even if they were being well meaning, do we really live in a society so over run with litigious souls that an amateur tog like most of us round here has to have PL insurance just to take pictures? :bonk:



THEN the BBC runs a news item this week questioning why so many Brits are leaving the country for good :bang:


Sorry, Saturday morning rant over, just ignore me, I will get more coffee and be fine :D
 
HIMUPNORTH said:
If you can't use your tripod you may as well send it up north. No such problems up here!........... and I promise to give it a good home....... :D
(y)
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You've obviously never tried in Durham Cathedral then. No photography allowed at all.

I made it very clear to the jobsworth who stopped me that I never give donations where I can't take photographs. And I never buy their own postcards either.

I have no problems with buying a photo permit. Where they're required they're rarely more than a couple of quid and where they're not required I add a couple of quid onto the donation I would leave anyway.
 
I've spoken to a chief inspector (who's name I always use) of the City of London police, that tells me you can use a tripod on public land in the city of london area. Expections are private land with public access, but you'll get stopped by the owners patrol/security guard rather than the police.
 
Ewan said:
Because, of course, photographs taken without a tripod are always perfectly harmless...
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Of course....

I said it last time...if you are some kind of terrorist, are you going set up your dslr, tripod, etc, and stand out like a sore thumb to get those detailed shots of possible targets [dont forget to compose and light correctly], or are you going to blend in with the crowd, attracting no attention whatsoever with your P&S compact, or even, these days, your mobile phones camera? :bonk:
 
LadyLens said:
Hang on, yes, a tripod can cause an obstruction, but do we really think that is what these officers were saying?
Sorry, I don't buy it. :shake: The terror threat is 'severe' - for crying out loud, yes, maybe it is, but it always was, before the current crop of hellraisers it was the last lot from across that smaller bit of water. Doesn't this go back to thread we had running a few weeks about about togs being stopped and questioned?
Click to expand...

Yeah, this is what got my goat! He didn't ask me what my name was, what I was taking photos of, he didn't ask to look at my photos or examine my tripod or take down my particulars! I can totally understand if I was asked not to use my tripod because of a tripping hazard but to tell me that I wouldn't be able to use it because of the terror threat is idiotic.
 
Well he didn't mind you being a terrorist, he just didn't want you to take good pictures.

There are too many governments in this world that use the over-hyped terror threat or global issues as a means of keeping us in our places. /as political as I get
 
Mohain said:
Yeah, this is what got my goat! He didn't ask me what my name was, what I was taking photos of, he didn't ask to look at my photos or examine my tripod or take down my particulars! I can totally understand if I was asked not to use my tripod because of a tripping hazard but to tell me that I wouldn't be able to use it because of the terror threat is idiotic.
Click to expand...

A friend spoke to her CID Bro in law a few weeks ago about this, and apparently its well known within the plod community that the Met are really pushing the provisions with the terrorism act to its limit and beyond as far as photographers are concerned. He said always be polite if questioned but don't be bullied by them, always ask for a proper reason why they want to stop you doing what you are doing. IF they ask to see your pics, by all means show them, but IF they tell you to delete, refuse! They are not allowed! If they think your photographs are so 'threatening' to national security that they should be deleted, then basically they are saying you are committing an offence under the terrorism act, and must arrest you, in which case, your pics HAVE to be kept as evidence. Otherwise they have no rights to request deletion, as no warrant.
Now, I am not sure I would fancy putting this to the test should I be stopped, but apparently that is the law as it stands. How this applies to use of tripods I am not sure, but you know what my next phone call is going to be! :naughty:
 
I would liek ot see that happen tbh.

Someone get arested for taking harmless pics under the terrorism act.
Public funds pay for it to go to court costign £ks and showing what a farcical situation it is.

Then maybe it would stop them persecuting people for such ridiculous reasons.

Have they got no motorists they can harrass down that way?
 
Ratty said:
I would liek ot see that happen tbh.

Someone get arested for taking harmless pics under the terrorism act.
Public funds pay for it to go to court costign £ks and showing what a farcical situation it is.

Then maybe it would stop them persecuting people for such ridiculous reasons.

Have they got no motorists they can harrass down that way?
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No, we have Ken to do that :rules:
 
LL, make that call :LOL:

Wonder if I can just clamp the camera to a zimmer frame and use that instead of a tripod. :thinking:
 
From what I’ve learnt you only need public liability if you’re doing a professional shoot …other than that you must claim to be a tourist, then your tripod falls under the same obstruction category as shopping bags, push chairs, dogs, parked bicycles etc. :naughty:

I got a filming licence for a sunrise TP meet in the City of London based on that premise. … no insurance was necessary
 
I couldnt imagine what you could use a tripod for, other than a tripod. I guess it could be said its a weapon but thats quite far fetched
 
yup. you gotta be real carefull about shooting anything like that. specialy if the shots are for commercial use. use a shot without written permission and you can end up getting sued. as others have said , the tripod is probably a liability thing , if some daft sod falls over it and decides to sue you or the owners.
as for the terrorism thing, bwaahahahahahahahahaha. is your camera actualy an anti tank weapon in disguise?thats some birk justifying stopping you.
have fun.
 
What have we all learned from this? That's right - never go to London as it's a bloody awful place. There's an entire country and everyone assumes London is *the* place to be. Ok, so it's got interesting architecture but I've always found the place as welcoming as an STD.

Wonder how many Olympians are going to get shot when the police see them running...

</rant over>
 
just think. coachloads of Japanese tourists arriving, all with SLRs and tripods, in the middle of town.

suddenly I see a point:LOL:
 
The National Trust used to have a 'no tripods' policy, have they still got it?
 
Chuckurbarla said:
The National Trust used to have a 'no tripods' policy, have they still got it?
Click to expand...

They've changed it to a 'no cameras' policy inside their buildings.
 
-Oy- said:
They've changed it to a 'no cameras' policy inside their buildings.
Click to expand...
WOW, that's a tad OTT eh!

What do they gain by doing this v's what they lose...? this is what I cannot understand. Very sad.
 
We were once on a photo job at Canary Wharf. So paperwork was all organised before we flew over.

We got frisked as we got out the cab, paperwork checked and some radio messages exchanged. All clear.

Kit set up.. was a technical camera so, yeah. on a tripod..

We set up to take some pics of the facade cladding on a building. Out waddles someone in a uniform.

"what you doing?"

of course.. there was some mixup. more radios, more phonecalls. security guard vanished to get an official.

In the mean time, like.. 30mins waiting. a TNT truck had parked in a no waiting bay and the driver left it there. Police passed, Wharf security in his golf kart passed.. and us, with our rather bloody obvious "camera" we under the gaze of about 6 CCTV cams.

Tourists of all nationalities walked by, happily snapping the buildings, entrances, foyers. Not one was confronted.

One hour later.

'click'

job done.

What a blummin' fuss over 2 people doing a job, correctly and with the right paperwork. When during that hour wait the whole place could have been scouted and flattened 3x over.

Oh well.

btw, tripods are not welcome in maybe cities now, even over here. You soon get ushered away. More for reasons of obstruction than security though.
 
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