On Apr 9, 6:07*pm, Mizter T wrote:
On Apr 9, 5:20*pm, "jim" wrote:

So what would happen if lots of photographers sent letters / emails seeking
permission. What about events, such as steam on the met...

A new form of 'flash mob' anyone *(pun intened)

If one goes by the story on the Amateur Photography website (as per
the original post), then LU would be quids in as each "crew" of "five
or less" would have to pay.

However I'm not entirely sure whether one should go by that story - it
says that "price of the permit (£34.50) includes VAT", but the LU
website says it would cost "£30 inc VAT" - see:https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate.../permit-reques...

So that's one rather obvious factual error. I can't help but wonder
whether this story is the result of confusion and cock-up rather than
a concerted effort to extract money and names from purely amateur
photographers - the (apparently) new rules are delightfully unclear
and unspecific, and I can well imagine there being a scramble in the
TfL Press Office as they scrambled to look at these new rules for the
first time and try and make some sense of them, hence the somewhat
confused responses from the TfL spokesperson.

That said the bit where the spokesperson says they will adopt a
"common sense" approach to amateur photography but then goes on to say
"Our position is that if you wish to take a photograph on our property
you should seek permission" does sound rather ominous. The policy at
least up until now has been that there were no restrictions with
regards to amateur photography.

I wonder however if this is simply the result of confusion relating to
different meanings being attached to "amateur" and "non-professional"
photography, the latter perhaps embracing various photography projects
that aren't money making but are nonetheless more than a bod with a
camera. Perhaps this is the result of snap-happy art students 'running
wild' on the network filling up their portfolios and causing minor
mayhem whilst they do so?

Looks like confusion and cock-up to me. The page on Permit Rates
https://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate...office/permit-
request.aspx only mentions commercial filming / photography (with non-
commercial only mentioned in the student section linked from there),
but they are all under the media section of the site. In other words,
these permits do not seem to be aimed at general passengers, but at
people wanting to undertake photography projects.

The Conditions of Carriage still only mention that flash photography
is banned and don't mention normal photography at all.