Pixiq

The madness continues in the United Kingdom with police using newly enacted terrorism laws to harass, intimidate, stalk and arrest photographers.

The most recent incident comes to us via War on Photography when a British family was on vacation in Wales; A man, his sister and his two kids.

The man’s name is Stephen White and he is a “trainspotter” or a train aficionado. He was recorded on a government security camera photographing a train engine from a local oil refinery.

The security camera also recorded his sister’s license plate number, which enabled police to track down her house in Lincolnshire, where a neighbor gave police her cell phone number.

The cops then called her early one morning demanding she take the photographs to the local police station for inspection.

When she refused, police descended up their campsite and again demanded the photos, but they still refused to hand over the photos.

The following day, a cop pulled them over as they were driving, still demanding the photos.

This is how White explained it to the Daily Mail:

“We were treated and hunted as if we were terrorists and a threat to national security, which was ridiculous. This has totally ruined the holiday, just because I’m a bit of a train geek who took pictures of some engines.

The police were totally over the top, went to my sister’s house in Lincolnshire several times and frightened my young niece and nephew. Jessica and Bryn were very scared and we had to pretend that it was just a game. They thought I was going to be carted off to prison as a terrorist threat.”

Meanwhile, The Independent (UK) has produced a video regarding last month’s arrest of a photographing snapping a photo of a fish and chip shop.