Photography on public transport and at stations

[molinari]

Rather than have the discussion in the gif thread in GD, I thought I'd post here and also get anyone else's experiences on photography on public transport or at stations. I've never been asked to stop taking photos or leave any station but I'm sure that plenty have. Anyone here have that experience? I'm sure there are loads of people/staff unaware of what can/can't be done regarding photography at these places, so it's always useful to see what the transport companies actually say about it.

Network Rail

When you arrive at a station, please let the staff at the Network Rail Reception Desk know that you are on the station. This will help keep station staff informed so that they can go about their duties without concern as to your reasons for being there.
You may require a platform ticket to allow access to platforms.

South West Trains (relevant to me)

For photography at stations that is for personal use only, prior permission is not required. However, we recommend you make a member of station staff aware of your presence and the reason for taking photography.

For any commercial photography, including photography for publication, prior permission must be sought.

British Transport Police

You can take photographs at stations for personal use.
For any commercial photography, you must seek prior permission from the appropriate train operator or from Network Rail at their 17 major stations.
And no no no no no, the police can not delete photos unless they have the appropriate authorisation to do so.

TFL
TFL differ in so far as their website states that you should apply for a permit to take photos, but from personal experience I've not had to.

Permits

Any individual or film production company wanting to film or take photographs on the Tube must seek prior permission from the London Underground (LU) Film Office.

There are three types of permit:

Student or non-professional
2 for 1 (Monday to Friday and between 10:00 - 15:30)
Location
All permit requests must be made in writing, preferably via one of our application forms."

I chatted to staff at various tube stations and the couple that I spoken to about the permit told me that they never check someone who is clearly an amateur/tourist (single camera and not a lot of equipment). I never applied for one and I've never been asked to show one (Bond Street, Morden, Tooting Broadway, London Bridge, Blackfriars stations). Of course if someone does stop me, I'm not going to get into an argument about it, there are more important things in life .
Providing you are not taking photos of CCTV/security, are not breaking or attempting to break any bye-laws, are not obstructing staff or passengers, endangering the health and safety of anyone, using flash photography, being a general nuisance, or there isn't a problem at the station which may affect you, there should be no reason to be asked to stop. Of course there are some staff who aren't aware of this, and I'm sure we've seen Youtube videos showing this.

One as an example:

A couple of weeks ago I saw a member of staff try to stop a woman taking photos (DSLR and tripod) of the tube entrance at Waterloo station saying it was a security risk. She did start to disagree but I didn't hang around to see the outcome. Whether she was taking photos of security equipment I don't know, but from the info on their own websites, I don't believe that this is a valid reason to stop someone taking photos.

Vauxhall Bus Station
I've read that taking photos of Vauxhall Bus Station may be viewed as a security risk because the MI6 building is directly behind it.


Info about the police and the power they don't have to delete images on your camera:
Met Police website

Officers do not have the power to delete digital images or destroy film at any point during a search. Deletion or destruction may only take place following seizure if there is a lawful power (such as a court order) that permits such deletion or destruction.

Any info/experiences from anyone here?

 

[Raymond Lin]

The tripod is more a Health and safety risk, tripping etc.

 

[King Damager]

I know Clown takes photo of tube stations with a tripod (The method he uses means he must do).

I can imagine there being more of an issue at a busy time though. If you turn up at a tube station with a tripod in the middle of the day when there's not people running around I don't really see the issue....

There are some great videos around mind you, and in most of them, whilst security staff don't know what they're talking about, if the police actually turn up, they tend to be fairly clued up on your rights, which is good....

kd

 

[glosrfc]

I've never been stopped, although that's probably because I just mention to the person at the ticket desk that I'm an amateur photographer and I'd like to take some pictures of the trains. Without exception they've all told me to go right ahead. There's never been an issue with tripods either, although I make sure that it's not going to cause an obstruction.

It's not been a problem at bus stations either. Just ask for permission at the office, and they usually say yes. If not, most are conveniently located on public highways anyway.

Same rules on tripods and flashes apply there too - don't create an obstruction, and no flash.

 

[Gimli]

Got kicked out of my local Bus Station the other month while taking photos for a college project. Apparently it's private property and they don't want people taking photos unless permission is granted before hand.