Filming someone without their knowledge - is it legal?

[missymckeown]

Hi,

My husband and I are heavily involved with our local authority in a dispute and have made a complaint about them. Since the complaint they have told lies about us and painted us in a bad light. This has led to us setting up a camera in our own home, while 2 meetings toook place. In these meetings, the council employees admit lying and one behaves aggressively towards me and loses his temper, having to be calmed by my husband.

My question is, was it illegal for us to film these meetings and can we use this with council officials?

I have searched the internet and cant find UK info, only American - any advice would be great.

Thanks in advance

[iStorm]

You cannot obtain video evidence and use it in court if the person had no knoledge of them being recorded! However i'm sure if u spoke to them and told them u had this evidence they may change there tune towards you!

[securityman]

I would Recomend you say the following;

Can I record this meeting and any of our future meetings and have that on the tape also if they say no just say the following; They have refused to have this meeting recorded in which the meeting was ended.

The issue is they could take you to court as it is part the EU and UN Human rights Acts.

[Dragunov-21]

As a rule, it isn't generally admissable in court unless all involved parties have been informed, however I'm not sure if that's necessarily the case in your own home.

I don't believe it could be actually illegal, given that it was on private property, and if that was the case, an insane number of businesses/hotels/homes/etc would be in violation of privacy laws for having surveillance systems without informing everyone who enters the building.

So I reckon you're safe as far as filming it goes, though I don't know whether you'd be able to use it as evidence in a court of law.

That said, I am not a lawyer, so I cannot say for certain. </disclaimer>

My advice would be to consult your local police and/or a solicitor. They will be able to advise you on your rights in this situation.

Confronting the council with hidden surveillance footage would not, IMO, be a good idea unless you've cleared it with police/lawyer - otherwise you could theoretically find yourself on the wrong end of a blackmail charge (worst case scenario).

[securityman]

The issue is that it is Illegal if your on private property or not. As it cover the Human Rights under Spying as even Police will not record any conversations and even under cover but they will say we have been recording your conversation

[pakatak]

Just put a decent sized sticker or sign on your porch window, front door or somewhere that they have to pass on the way in that says "CCTV in operation on these premises".

It is illegal to record audio without the consent of all parties involved so you should ask them if it's ok to record the conversation or simply tell them that you are recording the conversation - if they do not like it then they can leave.