lawful authority of Security Companies

[IanBinnie]

Today a woman working for a security company (Security Response) tried to stop my son from walking down a public road towards the route of the Olympic Torch. What legal authority did she have to do so?

[factor-fiction]

Please can you provide more details. What reason was given? When you said 'tried' does that mean she didn't succeed and your son proceeded, and if so were there any consequences.

[FredPuli43]

Bet she didn't know either ! As a part of crowd control the police may apply to have streets in an area subject to control. The streets may be closed to pedestrians or made one way or whatever is necessary and the police may also direct individuals or pedestrians generally as to movements. It's an offence not to comply with the direction . (This is why streets around Twickenham become mysteriously barred to pedestrians on international match days ) I expect that the contractors have been delegated the actual directing, but the area in which this was was subject to such a control order for the duration of the event.

[IanBinnie]

My son was not deterred and did pass but the woman subsequently called a police officer who stated she was only doing her job. My understanding is that civilian security personnel have no greater rights than members of the public and certainly have no legal authority to stop the public from lawfully walking down a road. The area was not subject to any control orders.