update on grumpy old man

[lightoftruth]

a few days ago i posted this question

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/People_and_Plac es/Question247123.html

its now got to the stage where he is taking pictures and filming us. This was on friday and no music was playing. we were just bouncing on the trampoleen. Now some the girls that were there were under 16 and hes just harrasing us now.

apparantly he's reported us to the council and i looked up the council policy and if he complains 5 times they take action. Surely they council wont do anything about kids bouncing in a trampoleen on there front lawn?

[dot.hawkes]

there was a case recently about a family being ordered to stop other kids using their family tramploine cos of insurance incase of injury

[noxlumos]

This needs calling a halt to immediately. It's all very well people saying he should be able to enoy his home, but clearly he is reuining your enjoyment of yours.I suggest you call the police and ask them to have a word as he's taking photos of little girls and videoing them and you are unsure of his motives. He certainly seems a very reactionary person who thinks he can behave in any way he chooses. If you've been reasonable with the noise levels then perhaps you should contact the local council yourself and inform them that he is harassing you.they may well be sympathetic if he's also reported lots of other people.Hope you get on alright.

[Hellion]

Noxlumos is right - this guy may have a genuine complaint BUT he should not be taking pictures and filming children - ring the police and report it now. He may be quite genuine but he may not, what ever he is behaving irresponsibly. I'd ask the police to get the films and pictures too.

[jno]

um, hang on, I don't think there's any law about taking photos of people jumping on trampolines in public is there? For heaven's sake don't go seeing paedophiles everywhere or you're going to wind up in open warfare with your neighbour, which will just cause you infinite stress you have done nothing to deserve. No, I don't think the police are likely to ban kids from trampolining as long as they're reaonably quiet, but it's down to the comon sense of the police.

[Aprilis]

Well it seems that taking pictures/videos of young children is considered unacceptable these days. At my daughter's school you have to get permission to take pics/vids of the school play. A letter goes home to parents to ask if they consent to their child being photographed or videod. If any parent objects then that's that...it's not allowed. Also if there are any events at the local Brownies/Cubs at which the local press will be in attendance a letter is sent home to the parents to get consent for a possible pic to appear in the paper.

[JudgeJ]

There is nothing in law to prevent images being taken of people (children or adults) in public places. Of course, a view would have to be taken by prosecutors if it was felt that an individual was taking pictures for illegal purposes, but generally there is no prohibition against recording images in the circumstances you describe. Both noxlumus and Hellion have in mind that the man is acting in a way which may suggest he is taking the images for a reason other than to gain evidence. Why should this be? Nothing you have said suggests that this is so. It seems to be a common assumption that because somebody is taking pictures of children, they must have sinister motives. More is required to support a claim of �paedophilia� (which is, I imagine, what you have in mind in your argument with this man) than that.

[Continued]

[JudgeJ]

[Continued]

So having got that bit of nonsense out of the way (which seems to be the first thing that is cited whenever anything like this occurs) let�s return to the original issue.

It is not possible from what you describe to say who is right and who is wrong. In all matters such as this we all have to remember that none of us lives in isolation and a balance has to be met. There are always two sides to every tale and if an amicable agreement cannot be reached then arbitration has to be sought.

Your grumpy old neighbour clearly believes that the behaviour you describe is unacceptable to him and it seems he is now seeking that arbitration, probably through the local authority. Because there will almost certainly be a disagreement over the facts, they have probably asked him to provide them with some details and possibly evidence to support his claims, hence the need for recorded evidence. Of course, the easiest way for you to see that he cannot gather such evidence is to stop behaving in the manner he finds unacceptable, but perhaps I�m being over-simplistic.

You now find yourself being annoyed by his actions, so you can now, perhaps, understand why he was annoyed by yours. If you cannot settle this matter between you he has a perfect right to take the action he has, and you should not seek to obscure that action by raising issues which have no foundation.

[noxlumos]

Well sorry judge J, but actually paedophilia was not where I was heading with my thinking, why would you think that? I believe that if this man taking photos of these children distresses either them or their parents then that could constitute behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace, at least that's what the local police told a chap who was taking photos of his neighbours with regards to a disagreement because presumeably they thought he was being unduly confrontational about it. Kindly try not to put words or reasonaing into my mouth again, we don't think along the same lines about anything and I'd hate anyone to think I had such a narrow viewpoint. Thank you.