Being prevented from taking photos outside a train station in London 3rd Mar 2011

...OUR COMMON WEALTH: an opinion piece by Russell Higgs in the Hackney Citizen 27 Feb 2011 http://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2011/02/27/hackney-downs-our-common-wealth/

.... plus Monday 14th March 2011 ... @ another train station an encounter with a Stormtrooper ... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8322225&l=0d80553547&id=526724739

... Meanwhile, this here video: I was out all day photographing and filming in the streets for a new project. I'd reached Kings Cross station and was photographing their dirty old loudspeakers positioned OUTSIDE the station, when all too predictably 3 "community support officers" and a station employee told me I had to stop because the station is "private property."

... I wasn't able to keep my cool in the face of such absurdity and pettiness, while I insisted that they tell me specifically why they are sticking their noses in, but I did at least have the clarity of mind to turn my camera on and get an audio recording of most of it.

‎... at one point a CSO tried to justify this nonsense by asking how I'd feel if people starting taking pictures in my home. But I don't live in a sodding train station do I.

... it's worth adding that previously in the day I had overtly taken photos inside the entrance to Angel tube station with no hassle. And immediately after this event I took photos in St Pancras and at Warren Street tube with no hassle.

... Some of you watching this may well judge me to be a total wanker. But the fact is, I'm human. I'm fallible. Sometimes I lose my temper, especially when I'm dealing with petty absurdities. Plus, My parents brought me up to always ask questions. I don't believe in blindly following orders.

Facebook NOTE: "The Great Outdoors" ... https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150112009458467 ...

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• Public Space
• Train Station
• Police
• Community Support Officers
• Kings Cross
• absurdity
• privatisation
• outdoors
• petty mindedness
• disobedience
• anger
• resistance
• questioning
• enclosure
• inclosure
• common sense
• civil liberties

[Femmenition]

Did you go to the station manager and get their permission? Did you sign in at the station reception? If the answer to these is "yes", then you had a right to be there. However, if your answer is "no" then they had every right to ask you to leave. A railway station is not public space. It's owned by Network Rail.

[RussellHiGGS]

@Femmenition .... I simply refuse to collude in the idea that we need "permission" to take photographs in the street (as I was here) OR inside PUBLIC transport spaces. I do not care if it is technically "private property". ALL land is owned by someone, even common land. Train stations are the same as the street ... they are public.

[yohansen316]

being told what to do in england by someone who can hardly speak it... great.

[RussellHiGGS]

@yohansen316 ... I thought the CSO's english was absolutely fine. Meanwhile I've written a Note over on FB giving a wider perspective on my day that day ... russellhiggsgreenfingers[dot]b­logspot[dot]com/2011_03_01_arc­hive[dot]html#4497472854172314­987 ...

[porter2002]

If it is indeed private property then they don't need to have a reason. If they don't want you to take photos then don't. Take your soppy camera and jog on somewhere where you are welcome. I usually have great sympathy for these sorts of videos but in this case I fully support the owners right to prohibit your filming.

[RussellHiGGS]

@porter2002 ... It's a train station. It's the street. The streets should be nobody's private property. You might be ok with passively doing whatever you are told to do. I choose otherwise. And immediately afterwards I jogged on to 2 more stations where nobody hassled me about taking photos. Just as nobody should have stuck their nose in at this station.

[platformone]

Also their is no hyphen (-) in the rail enthusiasts, for some reason I can't rid of the hyphen.

[camelstory]

I approve of their vigilance. Of course if you are doing no wrong, why would you have a problem accounting for what you were doing? Granted they did not articulate that well.

[camelstory]

If all is as it appears, this is not BTP's finest moment, and they are clearly not articulating themselves well. BUT how are they not to know you are not conducting hostile reconnaissance for a Mumbai style atrocity. Most tourists don't point cameras at "old speakers". Sorry to say this, but that is a little odd. The next person to do what you did might be bent on Jihad or armed robbery and noting CCTV locations. You are at a location where thousands pass daily. I for one approve of their vig

[mysteryelv]

@RussellHiGGS Agreed...you don't need 'permission'. You have a right to photograph in a public place and you are correct to insist on this. We, the public obviously need to assert our rights or they will be eroded. It seems as if just because you are requested to do something or they prefer you to inform them of your actions, that this is taken as an order to do so or as some new 'law' when clearly that is not the case.

[chrisloizou]

Ridiculous and the excuse a 'security risk? Just stupid. What about tourists taking pictures, maybe we should ban them too and stop them coming into the country to spend their money that helps our economy? I am a film maker and often take pictures at St Pancras St and have every right seeing as it was the very taxes I paid to the government that helped renovated it. The world has gone mad living in fear of every tiny action of every man. people like you porter2002, just afraid of being free.

[Femmenition]

@RussellHiGGS

Railway stations are not public land. Network Rail land is all private land. If this was filmed in the street, the police are the ones in the wrong, but if it was filmed in a station, it's you who is in the wrong. Understand this. It's not complicated

As for the term "Public Transport", it's named as such because it's transport to get the public around, not because the public own it - which they do not. Network Rail own the railways. Not the public