legal advice non cycling matter.

tim_wand

Today I went into my Wife's store (not naming it) with our four year old daughter to give her the car keys. My wife as you would picked up our daughter and gave her a cuddle.

As this was going on I noticed that one of her customers ( a guy she has had many maliscious complaints from and seems to have a bit of an agenda/ but whom my wife has always treated professionally and courteously) was sat in the corner filming my wife cuddling our daughter.

I didnt say anything at the time, I exited the store and stood outside looking through the window from behind this guy and could clearly see him playing back the footage on his phone.

I then calmly re-entered the store and asked my wife if she'd noticed what happened. She implored me not to challenge the individual and told me that he was the guy who she d come home and told me about previously having problems with.

I trust my wife 100% she has told me without indentifying him of problems with this guy in the past.

My natural reaction is just to break his knee caps, obviously that would cause me and the wife more grief than him

Surely though its illegal to film someone else's kid in public without their consent?

There are after all child protection and safe gaurding laws out there.

This guy has maliciously complained to my wife's area office about her store staff before, but got nowhere with it, and I feel he thinks he can use this to show what he thinks is my wife acting unprofessionally.

Can I report him to the police for filming my kid? Previously I have held positions which where quite sensitive, and in a previous incarnation we even had to gain police permission to film prisoners in prison who we thought were receiving drugs through public visit. so surely this creep just cant film my kid in public, whatever his intent?

schweiz

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photography_and_the_law

schweiz

Photography of certain subject matter is restricted in the United Kingdom. In particular, the Protection of Children Act 1978 restricts making or possessing pornography of under-18s, or what looks like pornography of under-18s.

So just by filming your wife and child, he hasn't done anything wrong from a legal point of view as I assume the videos/photos he took could not be seen to be pornographic.

tim_wand

Yer Schweiz your right.

Intent of use is another area of ambiguity as well. If he intends to make commercial gain, which again I doubt.

Have to wait and see what happens. hopefully nothing, My wife's done nothing wrong and her area managers always backed other staff against this knob. which is why he has a bee in his bonnet.

schweiz

I'm no legal expert but if this is some kind of vendetta then maybe harassment laws could help you? If this guys actions are causing your wife distress, which I think they are, then maybe you should seek some advice.

Wikipedia shouldn't be used in place of proper advice but it's a start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harassment ... ed_Kingdom

smidsy

tim wand wrote:

My natural reaction is just to break his knee caps, obviously that would cause me and the wife more grief than him

Only if he knows/can prove who has done it

Play the longer game my friend and you will have the opportunity to ...aham... resolve the issue. 8)

sungod

your wife should report the incident to her manager and to the police - making clear other times it has happened, and also reporting every future incident

someone who is repeatedly trying to intimidate your wife is clearly going beyond the bounds of reasonable behaviour, with a child present that just makes it worse, they may just be a sadfuck, they may actually be dangerous, either way they need reporting

it's not in public, it's on private property, there is no right to take photos/video

it's an employers responsibility to protect staff from abuse/harrassment/intimidation

if i were the manager i'd be telling the creep that they were not to enter the store again, i.e. "you're barred matey", there's no absolute right to enter a store, the person in charge can withdraw the implied permission to be in the store at any time

if the employer fails to act reasonably, you wife will have grounds for suing them i think

estampida

he could be stalking or summit like that, better to check this out, and document this and any other future events and a pattern if he has 1, as this can be used as evidence...
Also inform the police and management of the business in writing (have a nice chat with them as well as they can be very reasonable people), make sure there is no "we didn't know" or the police have a record of his behaviour before, so you are on a level playing field.

the picture thing:

Within a public place you have the free and equal right to take photographs of everything in that scene (within reason... ladies changing rooms, public toilets ect...) as does anyone else within that public setting (including me or is that you....)

but there are restrictions

asbo / restraint order or reasons why they should not be doing this

and an example of - someone who works on say tv media, might have a contract that states only channel 4 can use their image, without prior permission (you could copyright her image and sue if he takes a pic without prior permission) :roll:

private land with common access might not be allowed (taking pics in a supermarket, as they might think you are spying on the point of sale and security areas and so on..)

assuming your not using a tripod as this may be a precursor to a professional with regard to making revenue (postcard pics of city centres and the like these require a permit from the council ) most big city's own the copyright to the image of the city

but he may not be doing this for sexy kicks, he may not be fully functional in within the public setting (day release sorta thing), so you have to go easy on the kneecapping

check list-

business hr knows about your side of the situation, both verbally and orally, and communicate regularly

police know of your concerns both orally and verbally, and as above

look around for good lawyer as you have not broke the law you likely wont get legal aid, but don't do anything as it costs - and is very very last resort

have a chat with your MP.... you pay for him and it concerns his electorate, might shake a tree......

see what the feedback is from police and relay to hr to keep them fully informed

and if you think they are not doing enough mention that your "quality of life has suffered" because of this event... good phrase to use

MattC59

Get your wife to report the fact that this individual has been in the shop filming her and your daughter, express your concern and get the idiot banned from the store.
If that doesn't work, look into harassment charges.
Make records of every incident he's involved in.