Hello! Fairly experienced drone pilot with a UK law question.
What is the actual letter of the law with taking off and landing a UAV around the permissions needed?
All explanations I have found state you are breaking the law if you take off, land or operate a UAV from private or public land without the owner’s/governing bodies express consent (if taken completely literally). This seems absurdly limiting to me as even figuring out who to ask can be a multi day long task and then you can be completely blocked from your flight just by them not replying (which they reasonably won’t be if they being constantly asked by a dozen or more drone pilots); it doesn’t seem like a reasonable requirement for something you technically should do for every flight.
I have found when delving into a few of these kind of ‘rules’ before that they aren’t actually the law, only guidelines that will if followed mean you will be operating legally. Because this particular one is so insanely limiting I want to find out what it’s based on.
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this particular one is so insanely limiting I want to find out what it’s based on.
Property/trespass law has been around for hundreds of years. Quite a long time before drones came along.
Broadly speaking, as a landowner, you have the right to control what happens on your land.
If someone turned up in your back garden, and started flying a drone, you might have something to say about it.
Whilst you’re right in saying it seems ‘absurdly limiting’, and pondering if these rules are ‘only guidelines’ that seems to assume that the CAA came up with these rules holistically a couple of years ago. They didn’t. Property and trespass laws have existed for a long time and the CAA has no jurisdiction to change them.
Perhaps more pertinent questions are “Do people follow the landowner permission requirement?”, “Is it a criminal offence not to get permission?”, “What can a landowner do if you don’t get permission before flying?”, “Can you be charged with an offence after the fact? E.g. could you be prosecuted for flying on particular land 10x over a period of 2 years?”, “If so, how many cases have gone to court in the last decade?”, “What were the penalties?”, etc?
I am not qualified to give you legal advice, so please don’t take anything I say as such.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines trespass as to ‘enter someone’s land or property without permission’.
Trespass is not a criminal offence. It is a civil matter.
It can become criminal if you do not leave when asked to do so.
If you refuse to leave when asked to by a landowner, you can face a number of consequences, including:
Criminal prosecution: The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (PCSAC) makes trespass a criminal offence in some cases. The maximum penalty is four months in prison and a fine of up to £2,500.
When will an offence under the PCSAC be made out?
An offence will be committed under the PCSCA, if a person over the age of 18:
resides or intends to reside on land in or with a vehicle (including a caravan) without consent; and
fails to leave and/or remove their property (or re-enters the land) as soon as reasonably practicable when asked to do so; and
has caused, or is likely to cause ‘significant’:
damage to land/property/the environment;
disruption to the use of land/supply of utilities; and/or
distress via ‘offensive conduct’, such as the use of threatening words or behaviour
Therefore, one could argue that so long as you leave if and when the landowner, or their agent, asks you to do so - you can fly virtually anywhere you like.
Thanks for this, it’s essentially how I thought it worked prior to reading a number of drone rules guidance pages making this claim of needing direct permission every time. It makes complete sense to me it would work on the same ‘rules & president’ set by trespass.
I would consider flying from or in someone’s ‘living space’ as being something that you should need to ask permission for, whilst flying from my local field it shouldn’t be needed unless the landowner has specifically asked I/people don’t… just the same as if I was walking around.
I am new to this and have messaged several people and grateful for their advice indeed.
Drone us a dji mini 3 sub250g
I am literally debating whether to open the box the drone is still in and risk all this hassle or to send it back and save a few hundred pounds
I live in South Wales and asked my local council if I could fly from a local beach which has a castle near it.
Council have said I would need to ask permission and submit flight plan, proof of insurance etc
In addition, I asked about if they have a map of areas that show private or public land, they dont.
Asked do i need to ask permission each time I sed somewhere fancy flying as could be driving or cycling around, yes to submit for each one which will be for a specifc date and time. ( how restrictive is that)
I am confused if its council owned is that the same as public area?? How do I know which is which?
Just like the beach, I can drive down, park up and walk onto the beach no drone signs are there
I an trying to do the right thing.
I said to council that I confused and do I just go ahead and use my brain in deciding this land is open, punlic go there, its not private and just do it?
I have also asked them for information regarding your authority’s regulations/policy on the recreational use of drones from land under
your jurisdiction.
I think there is more explaining here. What part of land do you want to fly, IE small back garden, large field, small field, lake, & why. & how hight IE 10ft - 400ft.
If you’re flying over a stately home at 400ft really do you need to apply for permission. But if you are flying 50ft high taking photos of the home close to it.
What the owner can do. Make aggravation, Maybe take flyer to court. At the werst shoot the drone down & in forums this has been Dunn.
Hi, English Heritage PLC tried to stop Drones been flown over their sites,they failed. As long as you take off from public land then they have no control over Air space.They ban drones from Stonehenge but all the Drone flyers found a public dirt road and it was swarming with flyers and nothing could be done to them.You pay the CAA to fly your drone and as long as you stick to simple guide lines then you will be OK.
Take a look on utube at the Auditor sites like A B and they take off from the pavement and fly directly over sites.
I watched on last Night where he flew over the British Museum and everything was in order and these so called Security…DOOR BOY’S got put in their place by the Police that they had called.Take a Look,lots of good drone info out there.