{"id":239,"date":"2008-06-24T20:07:00","date_gmt":"2008-06-24T19:07:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2009-09-22T21:08:55","modified_gmt":"2009-09-22T20:08:55","slug":"bus-spotter-hangs-up-his-camera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/loades.net\/megabusblog\/?p=239","title":{"rendered":"Bus-spotter hangs up his camera"},"content":{"rendered":"

From thisislondon.<\/a><\/p>\n

A bus spotter has decided to give up his lifelong hobby of photographing
\nbuses because people fear he is a terrorist and even a paedophile.<\/p>\n

Rob McCaffrey – who calls himself an omniboligist – has been taking
\npictures of buses all over the world for forty years but has only ever
\nfaced problems in Britain.<\/p>\n

Over the time the 50-year-old has amassed a collection of 30,000
\nphotos of buses, trams and coaches.<\/p>\n

‘\"image\" <\/p>\n

Rob McCaffrey has been forced to hang up his camera after more than
\n40 years – because he keeps being mistaken for a terrorist and
\npaedophile<\/p>\n

But Rob says that in politically correct Britain he is finding it increasingly
\ndifficult to continue his beloved hobby because of the fear and suspicion
\nhe causes among onlookers.<\/p>\n

In the last year he has been questioned twice by the police and had to
\ngive all his personal details after people who saw him innocently
\nsnapping buses on public roads reported him.<\/p>\n

Rob, from Robinswood, Gloucester, explains: ‘Since the 9\/11 attacks
\nthere has been a crackdown on security and it seems everyone with a
\ncamera is now regarded as a potential criminal.’
\nEnlarge Rob McCaffrey<\/p>\n

Distraught Rob, pictured with wife Jay, has been fascinated by buses,
\ntrams and coaches since he was a schoolboy<\/p>\n

“The past two years have absolutely been the worst. I have had the
\nmost appalling abuse from the public, drivers and police over-exercising
\ntheir authority.<\/p>\n

‘People like me just want to enjoy our hobby without harassment but it is
\nimpossible now.’<\/p>\n

Rob says his love affair with buses has taken him all over Europe but
\nauthorities in Britain have treated him the worst.<\/p>\n

The credit controller says his first brush with the law was in Pontypridd,
\nSouth Wales, last September.<\/p>\n

A bus driver took exception to being photographed and called the police,
\nwho demanded to see what Rob had on his camera.<\/p>\n

A second incident in Monmouth saw a Police Community Support Officer
\napproach Rob and run his name and address through police computers
\nafter a member of the public complained he had been acting strangely.<\/p>\n

While Rob admits the image of a bespectacled, mac-wearing trainspotter
\ntaking down train numbers does apply to some extreme bus and train
\nenthusiasts, the vast majority are normal everyday people, like himself.<\/p>\n

Rob’s wife Jay, 46, agrees: ‘My brother drives a bus in London, and
\nsays if he had a pound for every time a tourist took a picture, he’d be a
\nmillionaire.’<\/p>\n

‘It happens every day. The spotters are just an easy target.’<\/p>\n

Under the law, t is not illegal to take photos in a public place, but under
\nSection 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, police officers may randomly stop
\nsomeone without reasonable suspicion, if the area is a likely target for
\nan attack.<\/p>\n

The issue was brought up in the House of Commons by MP and
\namateur snapper Austin Mitchell about photographers’ rights after he
\nwas stopped twice himself.<\/p>\n

But Rob is now fed up of the accusations, and says police need to stop
\nusing their authority to the extreme.<\/p>\n

‘I can deal with the fact someone might think I’m a terrorist, but when
\nthey start saying you’re a paedophile it really hurts,’ he said.<\/p>\n

‘We don’t want to support people doing something illegal, but while the
\npolice are wasting their time with me a terrorist could be planning his
\nnext atrocity.’ <\/p>\n

A Gloucestershire Police spokeswoman said: ‘If a member of the public
\nbecomes suspicious of an individual taking photos in public and makes a
\ncomplaint to a police officer, the officer will first discuss the matter with
\nthe photographer.<\/p>\n

‘Normally the individual is more than happy to disperse any suspicion by
\nshowing an officer their photos and one of the benefits of digital
\ncameras is that this can be done on the spot.<\/p>\n

‘However, if the officer remains suspicious as to the content of the
\nimages or the photographers intentions they have the authority, under
\nthe Police and Criminal Evident Act, to seize the camera and arrest the
\nindividual.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From thisislondon. A bus spotter has decided to give up his lifelong hobby of photographing buses because people fear he is a terrorist and even a paedophile. Rob McCaffrey – who calls himself an omniboligist – has been taking pictures of buses all over the world for forty years but has only ever faced problems […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/loades.net\/megabusblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/loades.net\/megabusblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/loades.net\/megabusblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/loades.net\/megabusblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/loades.net\/megabusblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/loades.net\/megabusblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/loades.net\/megabusblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/loades.net\/megabusblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/loades.net\/megabusblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}