bus spotter branded a terrorist/paedophile

[poppy34]

this made me laugh but suppose people have to be vigilant

link

No another stupid example of how this country has changed.

He has 30,000 pictures of buses and trams

To be fair, he hasn't been branded a terrorist or a paedophile, he's just been reported a couple of times for loitering round the buses taking pictures. Which you have to admit is an... unusual hobby. And then the police have investigated, established he's not a terrorist, and let him on his merry way.

TBH I think he and the paper are making a mountain out of a molehill.

Bus porn?
Were any of the buses underaged? Or looked as though they had been coerced?

My FIL is an avid trainspotter. I'd better warn him.

I'm with Flashman, I knowwe need to protect children, but everyone is so suspicious these days

LOL at "Mr McCaffrey, who is married"

flashman agree- can at a push see re terrorist thing (but is a bit OTT) but the paedo thing leaves me baffled -as bounicng turtle says how did they get to that conclusion!?

and you really want to go round to his house in case you got inundated with the photo collection...

er, yes, mr freakazoid hobby guy, since terrorists occasionally started blowing up buildings and trains i should bloody well think that the authorities would be keeping an eye on people taking photos of public transport. good thing too.

i'm sick of all these innocent people whinging, fgs. they'd equally be moaning if it was their pal sitting in a bus with a bomb. especially if the bus was the very rare green routemaster of which there were only ever 200 made. twat.

nice aitch. DH is a bus spotter who also enjoys taking bus photos. Do you think he is a twat too? or just a freak . I agree with Flashman.

and would your husband bitch and moan about being asked 'what are you doing' by a policeman? cos it seems to me if you actually are interested in transport you'd be highly motivated not to want it blown up (quite apart from the lives lost and families devastated).

and if that means you are minorly inconvenienced then fine, surely? not goiing to the papers bleating aobut how being asked TWICE was going to make you give up your hobby... like twatty freak.

erm Aitch, I don't know if your being sarcastic with your condemnation of innocent people or not!

so camera + bus = reasonable to presume terrorism then? I despair for civil liberties in this country.

To answer your question - DH would probably be a bit taken aback, but would happily explain what he was up to. No chance in hell he would go to the papers over it.

Ooh, this is an unexpected one to kick off.

Mumsnet: a new fight every minute.

Abuse is of course out of order. But being asked what you're doing... Where's the harm?

given its a genuinue hobby you'd think it would be a simple matter to convince people your interest was innocent..and if not they could always have a peek at 30,000 photos

if you're innocent, then you've nothing to hide... he's a bus-spotter. so he says, 'hi officer, i'm a bus-spotter'. and the officer says 'well sir as you can imagine what with the terror alert we have on at the moment since all those human beings died, i'm not able simply to take your word for it so come with me while i make further enquiries, after all the Yanks came in for a bit of stick at not havinig noticed that the 9/11 pilots weren't interested in landing'.
no biggie, given... as i may have mentioned... his total innocence and All Those People That Died.

" By TotalChaos on Tue 24-Jun-08 14:34:29
so camera + bus = reasonable to presume terrorism then? "

sorry, can you point me to where i said that? or did i in fact say that asking the question and making enquiries is reasonable on the part of the police. whereas being a fud about it and going to the papers is not.

OK Aitch - so you think it's OK for people to be stopped as they go about their daily activities without there being any real suspicion of criminal intent but because they are doing something a bit unusual then? I wouldn't be pleased at being questioned every time I got my camera out (not that I normally photograph buses, but have photographed shops and other less usual things to help my kid with speech delay). I wouldn't go to the paper about it though I must admit.

given that the attacks in London and Madrid were directed at public transport systems (max fatalities, max disruption, max fear) i absolutely think that someone photographing public transport should not be surprised to be asked what they're doing, yes. as i have said a number of times.

But if it is a polite enquiry, where's the harm?

And he has been questioned twice in 12 months. And I'm also thinking that a man who has 30 000 photos spends a fair amount of time pursuing his hobby. So twice isn't that much really, as a proportion of time spent...

The thing about this article is (imho anyway) it's all a bit of a nonsense. It doesn't say he has been branded a terrorist or a paedophile.

It says, he takes pictures of buses. Rightly or wrongly, some people consider this suspicious behaviour and alert the authorities. The authorities investigate, establish the man is a bus-spotter and not a terrorist, and everyone goes on with their lives.

He's hardly being persecuted for his hobby is he? Twice in twelve months he's been asked by police what he's up to. I don't think that's excessive considering it is quite an unusual hobby (personally was not aware of bus-spotting as an activity before reading this) and as pointed out already, there is (according to the government at least, is up to you if you believe it or not I guess) a terrorist threat to public transport.

I think he needs to stop whinging, tbh.

hmmm I suppose my previous posts were a bit vehement if it is just the case of a polite question by a police officer. a shame though in the current climate that a harmless hobby is the source of public suspicion.

it is in the telegraph though.. will be in daily mail tomorrow with picture of him looking hard done by besides a bus accompanying the worlds gone mad style editorial

TotalChaos it is a shame. But really nothing new, does anyone remember that family that were arrested in Greece for taking pictures of aeroplanes?

I reckon there ought to be a gricers' register, actually

yep total chaos although I think its fairly well publicised re strict laws on photographing stuff like airports and military installations in greece (the policemen with machine guns at airport were a giveaway) and the photos they took potentially violated that rule .. fact that they didnt know that was problem wasn't it?

idle question but do we have similar rules here now re airports - am guessing maybe not as there was some concern on radio this morning aout security at private air fields