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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To be concerned about drone catching images of my children in paddling pool

404 replies

Slightlygiganticpants · 04/07/2018 10:12

Last night whilst my dc were playing in the garden, (which is completely private and in a rural location, we have about 3 neighbours) a drone flew over several times. The dc were playing in the paddling pool at this time in various states of undress.

My dh got the children in and I went in search of the drone operator. Located him and started filming him with my phone. He was on the other side of the river from my house. He disliked my filming of him and we became engaged in a fairly heated debate with me calling him a pervert and possibly a peadophileBlush. Apparently what he was doing was completely legal (I believe drone was less than 50 meters from us but that is up for debate) and he wasn't filming the dc. He did also phone the police after I left and then came around and spoke to my dh.

I have looked into this since and have found out that this is legal! How? Surely this can't be right? Surely we have a right to privacy in our own garden!

OP posts:
SofieMonde · 04/07/2018 10:39

COntact the CAA

jumblefun2 · 04/07/2018 10:39

How do you know he was filming?

Nicknacky · 04/07/2018 10:40

Why didn’t you phone the police if you thought a “pervert” was videoing your kids?

Original poster
Slightlygiganticpants · 04/07/2018 10:40

I don't think he would have been able to see the drone at all times. He was across a river and then we have trees and hedges (and fencing) surrounding our property.

OP posts:
Shumpalumpa · 04/07/2018 10:40

Did both you and your DH go, or just you? Your statements are contradictory, as one of the times you say "we went" and the other is "I"

OP clearly says 'I went', jumble. Stop nitpicking and picking holes.

Candypinkstars · 04/07/2018 10:40

Regardless of whether filming or not drones should be 50m away from houses not hovering over the back garden of a private residence.

I'm not sure about calling him a paedo but certainly asking him to stop flying a drone over your garden was entirely fair.

PasswordRejection · 04/07/2018 10:41

How do you know he was filming you? My nephews have drones that don't have cameras attached.

Gottokondo · 04/07/2018 10:41

Please answer the question:
How do you know he was filming

jumblefun2 · 04/07/2018 10:42

Why didn't you phone the police yourself if you thought a paedophile pervert was filming your children?

The op says in a follow up post "We had time to discuss it, make a judgement call on getting the kids in and then go and try to locate the man."

CaptainKirkssparetupee · 04/07/2018 10:42

Regardless of whether filming or not drones should be 50m away from houses not hovering over the back garden of a private residence.

From what the OP has said, it was over fields and a stream and passed by the garden a couple of times, there's no mention on hovering.

PasswordRejection · 04/07/2018 10:42

50m in the air is not that high. It would be easy to see a drone flying over your garden at that height.

jumblefun2 · 04/07/2018 10:42

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AndreasFault · 04/07/2018 10:43

If a drone flew over my garden I'd shoot it. Absolutely no need for one to be flying anywhere near the house - I can touch an air rifle from where I'm sitting right now, and it wouldn't take long to get the shotgun from the cabinet.

CaptainKirkssparetupee · 04/07/2018 10:43

I have no doubt that there's a fetish involving the top of peoples heads though, so drones just enable that.

SofieMonde · 04/07/2018 10:44

"So, the 50m ‘rule’ only applies to surveillance (by this we basically mean ‘camera’) equipped ‘drones’,.....
However, that is not necessarily the complete story – it doesn’t mean that someone flying a non -camera fitted drone can do what he/she likes without any fear of arrest/prosecution."

uavacademy.co.uk/caa-clarifies-50m-rule/

Miserysquared · 04/07/2018 10:44

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Sundance65 · 04/07/2018 10:44

Just because the drone was over your garden does not mean he was filming you - he may have been looking at something in the trees or even just testing his control by repeating a simple route and trying to get it more accurate.If this is the first time this has happened it would suggest a new drone user who is not flying too far from his house to begin with. Where does he live in connection with a local place he may quite understandably have wanted to have filmed - would he need to fly over your garden to get there.

There are dozens of far more likely innocent explanations than he was a paedophile trying to spy on your children. It may have been annoying having the drone flying over your house but your reaction was totally over the top. That that was your first thought is bizarre.

Everanewbie · 04/07/2018 10:45

OP I understand that we're not always rational when it comes to protecting our kids, but could you have not been slightly more diplomatic? Maybe asking if he would mind flying his drone away from your house, and try to establish what he was up to by getting to the bottom of things? Your actions of filming him on your phone and shouting paedo sound more than slightly cretinous.

Candypinkstars · 04/07/2018 10:45

@captainkirk

So not 50m away then.

Fly the drone by all means. Just make sure you aren't causing a nuisance. Common courtesy.

Everanewbie · 04/07/2018 10:46

That being said, I'd love an air rifle or bb gun to try to shoot the thing down. That could provide some great fun.

Awrite · 04/07/2018 10:47

Could posters stop piling on to ask how the op knows the drone was filming. She clearly doesn't. As well you all know.

The fact that it could have been filming is surely enough to not want a drone invading one's privacy.

Bloody hell. It is rational to not want a drone in your garden.

ElsieMc · 04/07/2018 10:47

We had drones flying over our gardens last year and I was a bit uneasy. You cannot access our gardens from the main road, just a private lane. A few days later, my neighbours home was burgled, they went in by removing slates from the garage roof which you could not see from the road. Might be connected, might not but seems a bit of coincidence.

I think you are quite right to be annoyed about this man intruding on your privacy like this and it sounds like he feels entitled to do so, matters escalated and got heated. My view is that if you feel uneasy about something, then your instincts are right. What was his justification?

Years back we had trouble from a nearby courtyard. One of the holiday home owners used to walk up to our wall (they are at a higher level) and film our garden across to the church. The problem was that my girls were either in the paddling pool or sun bathing when they were older. Nothing appeared to make him feel uncomfortable unlike my poor girls who used to come in and not use their own garden. He also used to get a picnic table and sit against our boundary wall when his home and garden area were about 100 yards away. When I eventually said something, they went mad. I didn't accuse him of being a paedophile, I just said that it was making us all uncomfortable, it was a private garden etc. Sadly just rude, entitled people with no sense of boundaries - a bit like your drone operator.

Pebblespony · 04/07/2018 10:48

What did he say to your DH?

JaneDoe9000 · 04/07/2018 10:48

Did you see the footage from the drone? Were you in it?

He could have been filming anything for any reason at all and maybe he should have been more aware of your privacy, but to go from that to you accusing him of being an adult who sexually abuses children is a massive over-reaction.