cctv legalities
Turbo Mini Forums

Thought you bunch might be able to shed some light on this for me

The tennants who rent the flats/offices have access to their bins through my garage, not ideal, but beggars cant be choosers and all that.

Had some problems a year or so back with a teenage son of one of the tennants getting pissed and smoking in the garage and also robbing shit and vandalising my motorbikes etc

Anyway, had a word, threatened eviction blah blah, and he got fucked off to military school and since then its been alot better, but the occasional can of WD40 goes astray,and the odd screwdriver if left out, nothing major or unexpected though.

But recently some cunt has been going through and leaving the outside door wedged wide open so any cunt can walk in and help themselves to my shit, its a miracle i havent been cleaned out, thank god its the isle of man.

So I bought 2 security lights with digital cameras built in from maplins, and put them up, so they film everyone who comes into the garage from both the flats and from the outside door for 10 seconds when the sensors are triggered, handy gadgets



With these I have caught several tennants sneaking into the garage for a crafty fag (right next to my parafin parts washer lol, found a fag end stubbed out on a 5l jerry can of petrol. idiots) and also managed to find the cunt who was leaving the door open whilst using the back way as a short cut for the co-op, then apparently forgetting and coming back in through the front door...knuckles rapped etc and its not happened since touch wood


Anyhow, I went into garage this morning, and things werent right.

I dropped a off a package from Frost yesterday ,was in a rush as supposedly picking my parents up from the airport (never happened as after hours of waiting in the airport, turns out the flight was cancelled...groan). Anyway I just whizzed it into the garage next to the door as intended to come bac later to unpack it

Its now missing...

There is water all over the floor around the sink where it has overflowed, the leccy shower ive rigged up to wash my hands is kaput, wont even turn on and the temp dial is snapped off, the kettle is completely missing? the place is generally a bit of a mess where someones been routing through my stuff, jars of nuts/bolts washers etc have been taken off the shelves and not put back, not sure what else is missing (if anything?) yet, anyway a quick flick through the footage and Ive found who it was

He was the only one thats been in there since I left yesterday lunch and me coming back this morning, you can see him messing with the package (out of shot) , checks the outside door is locked, scans the other side of the garage, then has a sneaky look back down the corridor to see if anyone is coming/looking, then the 10 sec footage clip is up.

Now legally where do I legally stand with this footage?

I have a sign up saying "smile your on cctv" above the door, and dont intend to take this too serious, but I would like to know Ive not done anything wrong/illegal before I confront him with the footage and see what he was actually doing?

Cheers

Joe

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Its your property and you can place cameras within your property for the purpose of security as long as it does not intrude on anyones privacy, IE the camera is looking across the road at some ones window. Im not up on the legalities, but I would expect that signage should be errected to inform any one to the presence of surveylance cameras, especialy if the property is comercial in nature. If it is private property, then I not sure the signage matters.

It might be worth confronting the offender and showing them the evidence before going to the police, but that could also have its problems. I dont think there is any one easy answer. If it were me I would be seeking some sort of profesional legal advice. Citizens advice might be worth a try.

what you have to consider is any reprocusionsby going to the police, revenge for example.

The problem is, as long as your garage is a means of access, it doesnt matter how many cameras you install, you will always find some one that has no boundaries to their curiosity, or stupidity. Its not their property, so they dont care and there is only one way to cure that. well, ok only one legaly sound one

Isle of Man?! No clue what the laws are there with respect to private CCTV. Probably the best thing you could do is check with the local police to see if the evidence was gathered in such a way that it could be admitted in to court.

Can you not put a wall up? save all the hassle?

If it's your area or a public area it will not be classes as an intreusion on anyones privacy.

I'd be speaking to the police.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

Not sure about the CCTV stuff - i know the property managers we work with have to display a regulated sign advising CCTV was in operation and where it is operated from or managed by.

As wil says, build a wall; i know you'll loose a bit of space but at least you can leave the place safe in the knowledge someone insn't going through your stuff

is it time stamped?

yeah, have a pair of signs up saying "smile your on cctv" but the frames are not time stamped as such, but you can see when the file was created?

not planning on going to police or legal action tbh, i dont think its really necessary as people have a habit of looking glum and coughing up when i aproach them 'sternly', especially if i have them on camera

anyway, the police are too busy doing handbrake turns in the snow up on the mountain (I kid not)

ill have an indirect word with him today poirot style, explain somethings gone missing etc but i have cctv so will be checking it later etc, give him a chance to own up before i accuse him

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

I think you mean Columbo stlye.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

ill have to buy a cigar

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

You should be ok then. CCTV footage has to be time stamped to be used as evidence in court but if he realises hes been caught on camera he should own up before any police action is needed.

Result, kind of..

Went down the garage and the parcel is mysteriously back where I left it

So went round and spoke to the chap, explained someone had been in the garage and a few things were moved/broken, he admitted it was him, apparently needed hot water to defrost his windscreen, he was spining the showers temp control trying to turn it on when it snapped off, not realising it was push button start/stop, so
took the kettle instead which he gave back to me. He agreed to pay to fix it.

Ive already been onto Triton after the temp control unit (the dialis in one piece, but has snapped its plastic keyway inside), its an old model and they werent sure if they have this as a spare part, so looks like it will probably come to a new unit (about £100 from BnQ), and he wasnt happy at all.

It was a bit awkward, he didnt say anything about the parcel, and I wont bring it up until hes handed the cash over for the new shower, then Ill ask why he took the parcel.

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

leave something nice and shiny on the side where he can see it, wire it up to the 240v then you'll defo know who's been moving youyr stuff,
set some traps home alone stylee.....

Can you get some offensive music to play in there linked to a PIR? E.G Mr Blobby

That keep people out of there for periods of time

Joey get a cattle control eletric fence run an open wire down the path there allowed walk down, that way if the little shits stray off course they the the life shock out them

Hi :) Is the access purely to empty/ fill their bins? I know it may sound the lesser of two evils, but would it be an option to lock the garage ask them to leave their bagged rubbish outside the door for you to remove yourself? Even if they are legally allowed right of passage through the garage, wandering off bounds is surely amounting to trespassing. I've skimmed over trespassing laws at university as part of my law degree.I would advise checking your deeds/ contract on your garage to see how you stand. Don't wish to cause you any further worry but even trespassers can have certain rights too. If anyone got injured in your garage then you could find a case against you. For example, the cigarette smoking by the paraffin washer. The law would expect you to take reasonable precautions against making potentially dangerous items safe in your garage (especially as you are aware of people passing through it.) The law is a total ass sometimes and very often makes the victim the criminal!

Suck, squeeze, bang, blow........