Legality Of River Walking....

Hi Daz

In the UK there are many signs stating 'Trespassers will be prosecuted'' which is factually incorrect as 'prosecuted' refers to criminal law and trespassing on land is a civil law matter and as such the correct sign would be 'Trespassers will be sued' - doesn't have the same ring does it

The fact is by trespassing you are not actually committing any criminal offence unless you are causing 'criminal damage' or 'theft' such as fishing without a permit etc (there are other offences but these are the main ones.)

If you are challenged by a land owner all you need do is leave as long as no offence has been committed ie no damage caused etc there should be no further issue

The main issue I have had is fishing bailiffs who soon realise that I am doing no harm and are usually very helpful in terms of advising where to find the wildlife shots I want

I have another approach of saying that I have asked a few people who owns the land so that I can ask permission to be there but have had differing answers and so I have taken the walk hoping to come into contact with the owner to speak to them and again once they realise it is about photo's they usually have no issue, or none I have had any way

Judging by what you have said/posted about your physical size I doubt anyone will try to bully you

Hope this helps


Stu

Irwell, Irk and ink, all of them liquid, but none to drink

Changed a bit since that little ditty was made up thank goodness.

If you wish to be sure, Bing have the Ordnance Survey maps available online which will show the official rights of way.

http://www.bing.com/maps/#Y3A9NTMuMzgzMDk5fi0xLjQ2NDgwMCZsdmw9NiZzdHk9ciZlbz0wJnE9aXJ3ZWxs

Unfortunately the link doesn't keep the page setting so you'll need to
change the Road heading to Ordnance Survey Maps and zoom in.

John K

If there is any sign saying:

Access Prohibited, Private Land, Trespass Prohibited or similar then you are opening your self up to a civil action.

As a Riparian Owner myself I occasionally have to deal with trespassers and have threatened to sue - for damage and also my time in dealing with them. And occasionally when they refuse to leave or have deliberately caused damage I have involved the police.

Don't knowingly trespass and any take note of any sign including ones which (incorrectly) say Trespassers will be prosecuted.

I expect that we don't welcome strangers wandering through our gardens though, but if some bizarre individual turned up and asked if they could then maybe we'd be agreeable, maybe we wouldn't.

Wandering over somebody else's property is pretty much the same I would have thought. Asking is a good thing to do and taking no for an answer is also a good thing to do. Why create a problem?

Farmers have happily allowed me to wander on their property before now, because there's been a reasonable reason to do so and it's been put in a reasonable way.

If in doubt I would ask and avoid unnecessary conflict.

PS My post is unrelated to Gamka's that beat it to the web by a few minutes.

I have to admit that my comment was relating to river walks (the question itself) and expected (quite rightly I think) that no one would expect to wander through some one's garden if it happened to be by a river - I expect common sense to be used and expect it will.

Many river banks in the Uk have owners of the land as well as owners of the fishing rights etc so 'ownership' varies if only slightly for our purposes as photographers.

I have had people walking through my garden who leave when asked and as we all should if a land owner asks you to leave their land you should do so and remain polite but no one surely expects to wander around a persons garden or close to houses etc this was not the question.

My point was aimed at river walks which in the main in the UK are farm or industrial land frequented by people fishing and as such there are people there regularly and so one more 'person' would not be an issue in practical terms depending on the land owners view and request.

If a piece of land is set up in such a way that no one is welcome that should be respected however, are my footsteps as a photographer any different to those of people fishing - of course not and without exception the owners bailiffs have held this view in my experience.

In fact I have been granted access and offered useful advise by landowners and bailiffs once they are certain of your intentions and you remain polite at all times.

I appreciate that land owners and land users of any kind will at times come into conflict but common sense usually prevails

Hopefully I did not upset anyone, however, my advice is legally accurrate and intended to assist and not to upset

Regards


Stu

I think the term "garden" was being used in a non-literal way, certainly by me. I meant simply a plot of land belonging to someone, not literally a domestic garden.

Anyway, I'm sure nobody was offended Stu. (Thumbs up smiley)