Had a wonderful interaction with a Nexus security guard at Heworth late this afternoon who was such a jobsworth he made TSA staff look lenient. I took a single photograph of a LOOP L94 and saw this scruffy, diminutive guy (wearing a large hi-vis coat but with no identifiable markings, could have been anyone really - certainly not a uniform) watching me and noting stuff down on a notepad. It was raining and there was nothing due through for a few minutes so I took shelter in one of the bus stands. He came straight over to tell me he was in charge of security and said me I wasn't allowed to take photos of the buses unless I had a permit (yawn) and I requested to see this restriction notice in writing somewhere. He referred me to the website. I reiterated my request and asked him if I could have it physically in writing. He quickly told me I had no right to see it in writing and to look it up online in my own time. I was half tempted to just offer him a tenner and hope he'd bugger off but I didn't manage to get another word in before he raised his finger, pointed at me and told me if he 'caught' me taking any more photos he'd be ringing the police straight away. He didn't have any regard for the particulars of the legislation he was loosely referring to, which, to my knowledge, specifies that any such claim is only validated if notices are clearly displayed.
The rather enthusiastic jobsworths Nexus employ don't really do themselves any favours. He spent a further twenty minutes watching my movements like a hawk from underneath the canopy, smoking cigarettes on the job as he did so and when I eventually moved back inside the interchange itself, he seemingly assumed I was of no further concern and started having a laugh with some people inside the newsagents. I do wonder if he'd have been so eager to pounce had it been a group of youths (of which they were plenty in between Metro Replacement runs) rather than an individual who was keeping out of the way of proceedings, just taking photographs from the footpath alongside the car park. A friend I was conversing with raised a good point - what if I was much older and didn't have access to the internet there and then? It's just not good enough to say it's available online, it ought to, and must be, produceable on request.
In all the years I've been taking photos, this was the first occasion on which I'd actually been challenged so abruptly and threateningly (not that he was particularly intimidating, 5'4" perhaps and maybe 10 stone compared to me, 6'4" and 16 stone). I am fortunate in the respect that I'm generally able to hold my own in a verbal confrontation but I know other high-functioning autistic people don't have that ability. I wouldn't like to have been in those shoes.
RE: What's annoying you today? V4