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Photography (Public Places)
11 am
Mr. John Randall (Uxbridge) (Con): I am grateful for the opportunity, given by Mr. Speaker, to raise this important issue. This is the first time that I have seen you in the Chair in this Chamber, Mr. Bercow, and it is a great but slightly overdue honour to sit under your chairmanship. I see that the Minister is now in his place.
For me, this is a difficult subject in many respects, because I have sympathy with both sides of the argument, as I shall discuss, but first, let me give the Minister some background. As a student, I spent a lot of time in eastern Europe, where much photography anywhere near anything considered strategic was not only frowned upon, but policed rigorously. I am also a keen birdwatcher, as some hon. Members will know, so I am not unaware of the problems of going into sensitive areas armed with optical equipment of various sorts.
Some important issues have come to the fore lately, and there are three main threads that I want to address, the first of which is the taking of photographs in public places by amateurs, which initially drew the matter to my attention. Many of the arguments that I shall make on that point, and many of those against it, have been changed by the recent advent of Google Street View, which is the second issue. I hope that I have enough time to address the final issue, which is the journalistic angle on taking photographs in public places.
Let me now discuss amateur photographers going out and about in our public places and taking photographs. Many colleagues have come to me since I secured the debate to tell me about incidents similar to the one I shall describe, and I have several examples from my constituency. Last summer, a well-known local business man, Mr. Alberto Wusche, who has a thriving business on Windsor street in Uxbridge, took photographs of properties that he thought were in bad repair, which he wanted to pass on to the council. He had not noticed, but in front of one of those buildings was a police car containing police community support officers, who had parked on a double yellow line as they popped into a sandwich bar to get a no-doubt well-earned sandwich. It appears that they thought the photograph was going to be used in evidence against them for parking on a double yellow line.
Parking in Windsor street has always been a hot issue and has perplexed me for many a year while I have been here. One of the PCSOs went over to Mr. Wusche—he probably will not mind me telling the Chamber that he is in his 70s and has been a model citizen all his life, having fled fascist Italy—and told him that he must immediately delete the photographs. When Mr. Wusche asked why, he was handed a notice and pretty much cautioned. That upset him a great deal, and I understand why.
Another incident involved Mr. Lee, who has just come out of the RAF. He was stopped taking photographs outside the Chimes shopping centre by another PCSO, who ran a police check over the radio and handed Mr. Lee a leaflet on terrorism. Mr. Lee said:
- “I have just come out of the Royal Air Force after serving 19 years and to be questioned in public for doing nothing wrong left me extremely upset.”
I think we would all be upset by such a thing.
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When I started looking into the matter, a number of incidents were related to me. My son told me that a year or so ago, when he was still at school, a fellow pupil was questioned for taking photographs at Moor Park underground station for his art project, and his school was called to get his bona fides. I found another case on the internet of a young lad called Fabian Sabbara, who was stopped when taking photographs—in his school uniform—for a school project.
Mr. Andrew Pelling (Croydon, Central) (Ind): May I add to the hon. Gentleman’s list of incidents? I was stopped and searched on suspicion of terrorism for taking pictures of roadworks near East Croydon station, as he will probably be aware, and I showed my identification as a Member of Parliament. It would be a particularly audacious terrorist who disguised himself as a Member of Parliament, given that there are a limited number of them and they can be easily identified. Is not this ultimately a waste of police time when they should be concentrating on other issues?
Mr. Randall: As a Whip, I am tempted to say that I am suspicious of all fellow MPs, but seriously, I find it concerning that such action was taken against the hon. Gentleman. We had bombs in Uxbridge during the IRA problems, as well as a variety of terrorist incidents, so I am acutely aware of the potential for terrorism, particularly in shopping centres such as the Chimes shopping centre in my constituency. We have to look out for such things, but common sense seems to have escaped police officers—or, very often, PCSOs—in some of the cases that have been mentioned.
Hugh Bayley (City of York) (Lab): I congratulate the hon. Gentleman on provoking the debate and I am alarmed to hear of someone being stopped for taking pictures in a tube station. I seem to have had a lucky escape, because I had intended to submit a photograph of a billboard in a tube station to a parliamentary photographic competition. I strongly agree that the ability to document what happens in this country through writing and photography is a fundamental civil liberty. Does he agree that countries that impose restrictions on that freedom show that they do not share the democratic values that are so important to this country?
Mr. Randall: That is exactly the point that I have been trying to make. I am not surprised that the hon. Gentleman, with his surname, has been involved in the all-party group on photography.
Discussion continues:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090401/halltext/90401h0005.htm
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