Flying my drone over my parents home.
To photograph the garden. Mum is very proud of her garden.
Had just put it away with a woman came to door to complain. She said she was our neighbour but I did not recognise her.
Said that the drone was over her property and she said it was an invasion of her privacy. And that she is anti social media.
And she was just about to sunbathe!!!
She was demanding to know why I was flying it and what I was photographing. I explained why and what. Said that the images where not going on social media.
I apologized for any inconvenience or distress caused. She seemed to accept that and went away
I was not aware it was over her property, I did loose sight if it breafly when looking into the sun. The view in the screen was only of my parents property. It was no lower than 30 meters. I understand that is the legal minimum limit.
Was I in the wrong and did she have a legel reason to complain?
John.
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@Tiddles You handled it well by apologising and explaining what you were doing. From what you’ve said, it sounds more like a misunderstanding than anything malicious.
In the UK, you’re generally allowed to fly over neighbouring property as long as you’re following the drone rules, flying safely, and not endangering people. There’s no law that says you can’t briefly pass over someone’s garden at 30m. The “30 metre rule” mainly relates to uninvolved people in certain drone categories, not simply flying over property.
Privacy complaints are a bit different though. People can complain if they feel they’re being specifically filmed or monitored, especially in private settings like sunbathing in a garden. Even if you weren’t recording her, from her point of view she may not have known that.
Losing sight of the drone briefly into the sun is probably the bigger issue, as technically you’re meant to maintain visual line of sight at all times. But overall, it sounds like:
- You weren’t intentionally invading privacy
- You explained yourself politely
- You de-escalated the situation properly
- No harm was really done
Most neighbour complaints about drones come from concern or misunderstanding rather than actual legal breaches. A quick friendly explanation, like you gave, usually solves it.
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It’s only an issue if you are constantly hovering over a particular property or below roof height. Flying around the area isn’t normally a problem, but some people like to complain; if it’s not about the drone, it’s about the weather.
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Thank you for the advice.
I am a middle aged heavy built trucker.
Not known to be shaken easily.
But this incident actually got to me. All my engagements I have had when flying the drone have been positive.
And I have used it to help people.
This has certainly been a wake up call 
John.
1 Like
Yes this can happen and it sounds like you dealt with it very well. I have been approached on many occasions and mostly it does go well. Unfortunately we can’t stop people’s imagination from run wild especially if they don’t like drones anyway. I had people go funny just because I said I fly drones. I didn’t even have the drone with me on this occasion.
This is one of the reasons why I like flights logs because if someone has any accusations our flight logs can be used as evidence for us. So we can use it as evidence that a crime was not committed. I had the police on my door as well. Simon Dale helped me out at the time. Eventually I found out that they were keeping cats that need a licence. These were in cages in the back garden and that was the real reason why they didn’t want me to film in the area. I was actually filming lidl’s being rebuilt in the opposite direction but I guess they didn’t know that. This was five years ago. This will be news to Simon Dale as well. So I did find out the real reason a few week ago. It’s funny how things can work out.
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