Cctv

[andy36]

I have just been reading about some chaps CTR being damaged and a few responses from members saying they are going to fit CCTV to protect their car, that's all well and good if it is parked on their property and the camera is not pointed at the road, however of the car is parked on the road and you put CCTV up on your property that sees the road and path, you risk committing an offence so please be careful chaps and chappeses, protect your car but don't let the CCTV encroach past your boundary.

[Alsone]

I think your mistaken Andy.

Home use is exempt from both Data Protection and Privacy legislation. According to the Government website, its perfectly legal for home cameras to point into the street or even neighbours gardens.

CCTV - Advice for Members of the Public - ICO

Home CCTV and UK Law

[Fartnugget]

U r very correct ** and sometimes they can't even prosecute on camara evidence as it is amateur as a friend with a m3 found out

[Fartnugget]

Learn one thing new

[andy36]

It's a grey area, you are talking about data protection which is exempt when protecting your home from a burglary, however when it is being used for the sole purpose of protecting your car on a public road is where it could get tricky, which is why I stated you risk committing an offence, not that an offence is actually being committed. When I'm back in the office on Wednesday I'll check case law for a definitive answer.

[deni.babe]

better warn the brother-in-law lol he can see the whole street with his cctv, i think if the camera picks up beyond its boundary it could be classed as a invasion of privacy but lets face it the police will not act on this unless a neighbour is clued up on the subject and says you are a peeping tom,being used for other than protecting your property yes its an offence but rarely acted on.

[Alsone]

Originally Posted by andy36

It's a grey area, you are talking about data protection which is exempt when protecting your home from a burglary, however when it is being used for the sole purpose of protecting your car on a public road is where it could get tricky, which is why I stated you risk committing an offence, not that an offence is actually being committed. When I'm back in the office on Wednesday I'll check case law for a definitive answer.

Andy I agree if the sole use is to protect a car on the road, then as you say, it's more tricky as you are deliberately focusing on the road. There's a definite separation between having to restrict it's view to your boundary when watching your land (which appears incorrect in most private household circumstances) and deliberately targetting something in the public street.

However, most CCTV cameras mounted at normal height on a property would capture the garden as well as the street and so I think that provided a reasonable amount of garden was in the picture, ie it wasn't centred simply on the car and you claimed it was protecting the garden and not the street, you would in any case have a fair argument to claim that the camera was in fact watching the garden for intruders.

A good example would be the video of the woman prosecuted for putting the cat in the wheelie bin. The 1st camera was watching the garden but clearly captured the street,the 2nd camera appears in fact to be capturing more of the street that the garden - it actually looks to me like it's supposed to capture the car parking space and not just the gate at 40 seconds!:

Woman thought putting cat in bin 'would be funny' - YouTube

Woman thought putting cat in bin 'would be funny' - YouTube

However, the fact the police didn't prosecute for Data Protection can't be taken as a definitive answer that they couldn't.

So personally if I was in the position of being someone who parks solely on the street, I'd be careful about the positioning of any camera with regards to the garden so that the garden was in the frame and the primary focus, and also any reasons I gave for its positioning if questioned in the absence of any supporting case law on the matter. Protecting the house / garden / gate / garden boundary needs to be the primary reason.

As for could you deliberately protect a car on the road as being a part of your "household security", logically one would have thought yes provided the camera was reasonably tightly focused around the car's parking area so as to avoid deliberately capturing the whole street.

However, I await your research as I have to admit I don't know the answer to that and the law isn't always logical!

[Grayfox]

Plus the british have no privacy as it was lost a while back, correct me if i am wrong but is their not a camera on every street in london watching everyone?

[Syx]

Originally Posted by Grayfox

Plus the british have no privacy as it was lost a while back, correct me if i am wrong but is their not a camera on every street in london watching everyone?

Different rules apply when it's Big Brother in charge.

[kenlory]

had the same installed years ago, for same reason...

[Alsone]

Did you ever find the answer Andy?

[andy36]

Been so busy today on other police work, the operation is running the whole week but I will try and have a look tomorrow, crims permitting of course