Preston Bus Station Photography
Dear Lancashire County Council,
It has been brought to my attention that photography is prohibited on Preston Bus Station and your bus station security team are harassing photographers thereby causing them alarm and distress.
Please provide me with documentation (laws, acts, statutes etc) that allows LCC to prohibit the taking of photographs on the bus station, which is a public place.
Yours faithfully,
Tyrone Armatage
Dear Mr Armatage,
Request for information
We are writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 27/11/17, in
which you request the disclosure of information.
We can confirm that your enquiry will now be assigned to an officer who
will commence a search for the information you require and they will
respond in due course. The deadline date for issuing you with full
response is 28/12/17. We will endeavour to provide a response well in
advance of this date, however, should we envisage any delays, or require
more details from you, we will contact you immediately.
If you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact
us, quoting ref. 936.1688
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Legal and Democratic Service
Lancashire County Council
PO Box 78
County Hall
PR1 8XJ
[1][email address]
[2]www.lancashire.gov.uk
Dear Mr Armatage,
Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
Further to your email of 27 November 2017, in which you request the
disclosure of information under the provisions of the above Act, we are
now in a position to respond.
Photography is generally allowed at the bus station, which despite being a
public place is still private property. However there are times when we
cannot allow photography requests in certain areas of the property for
safety reasons. We would never look to stop reasonable requests, however
there have been cases where people have placed themselves in a dangerous
position to take photos, as this is a busy environment.
Members of the security team at the bus station will approach people seen
taking photographs to ask about their activities and purpose. This is in
common with many other buildings across the country, and time spent
dealing with these situations can lead to less time for staff to deal with
other matters. The UK terror threat is currently listed as Severe. Threat
levels are designed to give a broad indication of the likelihood of a
terrorist attack and Severe means an attack is highly likely. The presence
of attentive and observant security personnel can help to form an
effective deterrent. Our security staff are aware of the need for
vigilance and are there to identify possible risk.
If you wish to take photographs at the iconic bus station, we recommend
that you tell our security staff or bus station manager beforehand. We can
then do our best to accommodate any photography requests.
We trust that our response is to your satisfaction, and your request will
now be closed as of this date.
Yours sincerely,
The Information Governance Team
Lancashire County Council
PO Box 78
County Hall
Preston
PR1 8XJ
Email: [1][Lancashire County Council request email]
Dear Freedom of Information,
Thank you for the response to my FOI request where I asked..."Please provide me with documentation (laws, acts, statutes etc) that allows LCC to prohibit the taking of photographs on the bus station, which is a public place."
As you provided opinions rather than the information I requested and as you are unable to provide me with the documentation I requested, I now take it that there are no laws etc prohibiting the taking of photographs on Preston bus station and therefore, myself and my collegues will continue to do so as we have done for decades.
We live in a Democracy, Not North Korea.
Yours sincerely,
Tyrone Armatage
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