I received an email this week from someone who wishes to remain anonymous. It was about bus station photography. I reproduce below most of that email plus an accompanying photo. We have asked Centro for comments and will let you know what they say...
I was interested to read your most recent post on a sensible industry approach to bus photography, where you say that jobsworths have in the past made life difficult for enthusiasts.
On a recent trip south I decided to leave the M5 motorway at junction 9 to find my way to West Bromwich where National Express West Midlands had recently employed some new Scanias. I stumbled upon Wednesbury and took some photos in the small bus station. It wasn’t long before a Centro employee asked to see my permission. I had none and he asked me to stop photographing. He could give no reason other than it was “policy”.
The same happened in West Bromwich bus station, even though I was standing at the very fringe of it. This time, the Centro man said it was because of data protection. I questioned this and he immediately changed his mind to health & safety. At least he didn’t mention terrorism or the “P” word. He maintained that Centro required notice of a visit so they could ensure an enthusiast had a hi-vis jacket and, upon arrival, were shown the bus station exits.
Well, I’ve been in the industry for too many years to know when and where it’s unsafe to watch buses! I do fail to see why someone who would keep to the public area would need hi-vis personal protective equipment. It’s not a bus *garage*. As far as I could see, passengers were not required to wear such garments and they, too, kept to such areas. They were actually at more risk in no man’s land between the safety of Centro’s property to the responsibility of the bus operator.
As for knowing where the exits are, I trust that passengers, too, have to undergo such training.
I come originally from near Liverpool. I don’t recall any calls at Merseytravel for general hi-vis PPE following a passenger death at Queen’s Square bus station in 2004. The woman in question was crossing the bus station at a recognised point. The issue here is that she was not an enthusiast.
The West Bromwich supervisor suggested that I move to just outside the bus station. By “forcing” me off the premises to the public highway to take pictures, I actually consider I was more at risk in negotiating the traffic, pelican crossings and dodging the pedestrian perimeter fencing.
I must say that both supervisors were polite and well mannered, if may be not so well briefed. Their action still left a distasteful feeling, though.
Why this paranoia on the part of the PTEs? Why aren’t smaller bus station operators such as councils so cautious, I wonder?
11 comments:
This all demonstrates just how ludicrous these 'policies' are. First, the Centro officials don't know why the alleged 'policy' exists. Then, what happens when a group of teenagers, waiting for a bus, decide to take photos of each other with their mobile phone cameras? Presumably they need to ask for permission and hi-vis jackets before they dare to press the shutter? Somehow, I rather imagine that the Centro 'officials' would turn a blind eye in the latter case.
Of course, one could interpret this in a positive light. Presumably, the bus services in Wednesbury and West Bromwich were operating perfectly, and all of the displayed information,etc, was perfectly easy to find and clear - so that the 'officials' had nothing better to do?
I was at London City Airport on Monday afternoon and was happily snapping pictures of the buses using the bus stops. I was openly using an SLR style camera, not a compact. There was several armed Police officers stood opposite me - none of whom raised the matter with me or who even seemed to care. In the end I stopped taking pictures as I was aware of the number of armed response officers on site. (Apparently something was happening there which required such a high number present). Strange how small West Midlands bus stations are so paranoid, yet armed Police at a busy London airport obviously could see what I was doing and were not apparently bothered. Or was I just lucky?
I imagine that smaller bus station operators might be cautious if they had the time/manpower to make such decisions, and enforce them.
Perhaps with ample CCTV coverage these days, public money could be saved by making all these authoritarian jobsworths redundant ?
Then again, how do you know that they are genuine staff and not terrorists assessing the location ?
Oops, it's catching !
Another thought that occurs to me - when I was employed in the bus operating industry, it was a requirement that road staff carried a copy of the appropriate documentation (principally fare tables, etc), to show to passengers in the event of a query. A faretable and conditions of carriage displayed in the vehicle was, I believe, an acceptable alternative - Southampton City Transport did that on half-cab buses, for example. So presumably, any photographer challenged by one of these 'officials', such as those at Wednesbury or West Bromwich bus stations, could simply ask said official to show an official copy of said 'policies'.
I would guess that such a request would probably keep the 'official' busy for quite a time - enough to take several photos!
Wonder what would happen if you ignored the supervisor and just carried on. Would he get heavy? Or get some colleagues? The minute he lays a hand on you he has probably commited common assault so I think his trainign would say he mustn't do that. He would probably just make a phone call, report you and leave it at that.
Isn't it better to just take pictures on the street anyway? That way you have nicer surroundings and the picture looks more "real".
Doesn't anyone agree that Centro and other bus station operators might have just cause to insist on photographers being trained?
Bus spotters are just that little bit different to a crowd of mobile carrying teenagers. Bus spotters can easily get carried away trying to frame that *special* shot that they can become careless in their preoccupation.
This alone should make the bus station operator think twice.
(I wonder whether guidance on how to use the exits is intended to press home the point that some exits are safe and other doors are not? - those onto the concourse, for example).
Anonymous said...
"Doesn't anyone agree that Centro and other bus station operators might have just cause to insist on photographers being trained?"
Not really. "A crowd of mobile carrying teenagers" (as you put it) can be just as "carried away" as bus enthusiasts - and therefore, potentially oblivious to possible safety hazards. Adults running for a bus that is about to depart may be equally 'focussed' on the bus that they fail to observe other things. I've seen mature adults trying to open the doors of trains that have already started to move.
It's a fact of life that people in general occasionally do things without paying full attention to the potential consequences. It probably explains the majority of road accidents. It doesn't justify treating adult bus enthusiasts like children.
'Not really. "A crowd of mobile carrying teenagers" (as you put it) can be just as "carried away" as bus enthusiasts - and therefore, potentially oblivious to possible safety hazards.'
I think teenagers may be just as problematic with or without their mobiles.
Compare this to the usually cuatious bus spotter who normally is safe and virtuous. Suddenly at the far end of the bus station he glimpses a rare Massey bodied rear engined Skoda six wheeler double deck complete with dorsal fin and St Ives front showing X2 The Great Exhibition. As his prey disappears out of the bus station he impulsively throws caution to the wind and gallops over with camera... getting caught under a Scania on the 313 in the process...
An interesting article - I had exactly the same experience at West Bromwich a few weeks ago. I was approached and told "I have been told to tell you that you cannot take photos with permission." First question - who told the supervisor? Is there someone else running the bus station who is too afraid to come and speak to me personally? Second question was "why?" - I got the usual old nonsense about "data protection act, copyright, health and safety" - all of which I replied to by pointing out that they either did not apply or that passengers were not being asked to wear hi-vis. I later saw a member of the public walk right across the bus parking area unchallenged by any of the people in authority. If they are happy for the public to be in such areas then why are they employed because they're clearly not conducting any enforcement of the most obvious rules?
By virtue of my employment in the public transport industry I have additional insight into security matters and I pointed out that someone obviously taking photos could not be deemed to be any sort of threat. I had checked all of the PTE websites before a recent holiday break and *none* of them have any policy statements about photography despite the ongoing posts / adverse comments from enthusiasts who encounter mindless authority figures trying to enforce policies that do not exist as far as the general public are concerned. The official at West Bromwich was polite but his entire stance was "nothing to do with me, it's down to those who invent these policies" which was obviously a way of deflecting any criticism.
The only PTE I have ever "booked in" with was Nexus in regard to photography on the Metro system. I got a permit organised via E Mail but again Nexus do not publicise this requirement at all. It was only a MSN group that alerted me to the requirement. I still consider this to be completely over the top given that LUL does not restrict enthusiast photography on its network with the obvious exception of flash photography. I am sure Nexus, if it wished, could adopt the exact same policy as LUL.
I continued my trip to Wolverhampton where the Centro Info Bus was present. I went in to the bus and asked to see a copy of the by-laws that governed bus stations. They did not possess a copy which struck me as odd. I then had a lengthy discussion with the official who repeated all the nonsense about the policy, data protection act, copyright etc. How can people be so wrongly informed? I was told that my observations about there being no policy on the Centro website, no reference to photography or photographers would be forwarded to Summer Lane and matters would change. From what I can see nothing has changed.
I did point out to the official that Centro's policy would probably mean I would stop visiting the West Midlands - if I can't undertake a lawful hobby without being hassled then why bother? If the West Midlands transport authorities really want to stop a small proportion of people visiting their area - especially when NXWM Metrobuses are likely to be withdrawn this year and therefore a draw for enthusiasts - then they're going about it the right way. I have stayed in Brum several times over the last 2 years and spent a lot of money on hotels, food and other shopping as well as train tickets and local transport passes. Can the West Midlands afford to alienate even some of its visitors?
I will admit that I have not formally complained to Centro as I doubt it will make a great deal of difference and it could actually make matters worse. I will be interested to see if they actually give you a coherent response.
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