Thursday June 26
 
15:15
 
No Bus Photos - We’re British

When I was last in the UK, I was almost detained and arrested for taking a photo of Yo-Sushi in a shopping mall. In my eyes, I was just a Scottish bloke wanting to show my Japanese friends “Finally there is a sushi restaurant in Glasgow!” In the eyes of Duncan, the “mall security official”, I was a potential terrorist wanting to blow up… Glasgow’s only sushi outlet.

At the time I thought I was just subjected to Duncan’s personal power trip - but it seems not:

Rob McCaffrey, 50, had apparently over 40 years built up an impressive 30,000 pics of buses, coaches and trams from across the globe, but has now put the lens cap on for good because he “keeps being mistaken for a terrorist and paedophile”.

He explained: “Since the 9/11 attacks there has been a crackdown on security and it seems everyone with a camera is now regarded as a potential criminal. The past two years have absolutely been the worst. I have had the most appalling abuse from the public, drivers and police over-exercising their authority.

For god sake people - we can’t even take photos of buses anymore?

A Gloucestershire Police spokeswoman clarified: “If a member of the public becomes suspicious of an individual taking photos in public and makes a complaint to a police officer, the officer will first discuss the matter with the photographer. Normally the individual is more than happy to disperse any suspicion by showing an officer their photos and one of the benefits of digital cameras is that this can be done on the spot.

“However, if the officer remains suspicious as to the content of the images or the photographers intentions they have the authority, under the Police and Criminal Evident Act, to seize the camera and arrest the individual.”

Laws are often created with good intentions - but are open to abuse. I took a photo of a sushi restaurant and I was threatened with being detained and reported to the police - on what basis? The current situation in the UK is ridiculous. We lived with the IRA bombing us for years and we never had this law stupidity.