Was I unreasonable?

[Marmora Man]

Background:

This afternoon I was sitting on the wall by the River Thames opposite the London Assembly building in the sunshine. Sitting on Thames side walls or railings in the sunshine and watching the world go by is something I have enjoyed doing for most of my life in London. I was told by a security attendant to get off the wall ?for my own safety?. When I queried this, pointing out that at my age I was perfectly capable of making decisions about my own safety, the attendant changed his line telling me it was against the rules.

I pointed out that rules and regulations that are not publicised are of little value in guiding the public?s actions and queried what the rules were for but the security attendant was unable to explain. He then reported my failure to ?obey the rules? by radio and went away, returning some 5 minutes later to again tell me to get off the wall. I again queried the rationale and again he was unable to explain. I continued to sit on the wall in the sunshine. The attendant berated me for my lack of obedience but decided to then walk away and ask others to stop sitting on walls.

As an instinctive libertarian I object to being told what to do for no good reason. The wall runs alongside the Thames and forms part of the Queens Walk from Lambeth Bridge to Tower Bridge ? something created in 1994 for the public?s use and enjoyment. The land however, is owned by a private company called "More London".

I am not aware of any regulation that makes it illegal to sit on a riverside wall. I can only conclude that either "More London" staff are making up arbitrary rules for no real purpose or that "More London" is so risk averse that it wishes to prevent enjoyment of normal Thames side pleasures in case someone does fall into the river and is sued. If it?s the first reason the staff needs better training, if it?s the latter the management need to take a more robust and balanced view of life and risk.

Question- Was I unreasonable?

I'm tempted to organise a mass "wall sit on" just for the fun of it.

Edited to change "sit in" to "sit on"

[jimbo1964]

I'm with you all the way.

[giggirl]

You rebel you. I bet you need to be shushed in libraries too.

Sounds like the security attendant was having a slow day though.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Save a bit of wall for me - am making up a banner.

"Just like a bod that's sitting by the water, we shall not be moved."

[Nero]

It's a good issue. Reckon one of the papers would be interested, especially if you were willing to be photographed in glum pose on said wall. Good for you for standing up for yourself.

[lozzyloz]

Taking a photo might be a dangerous proposition now as this seems to be joining the list of civil liberties being eroded. I was stopped and questioned by 2 PCSO's recently when doing an innocent recce at an 'iconic' London building (not Parliament).

Watch this short film: No Photography

[macroban]

Were you in breach of Bye-law 56?

[giggirl]

lozzyloz Wrote:

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>

> Watch this short film: No Photography

Oh no - it's Sunday morning; I was feeling very chilled out and happy, now I've watched this film and I'm feeling MAD AS HELL. What has this government done to our civil liberties? Who can we vote for that will put an end to this nonsense? Oh man, and I was so chilled.

[Marmora Man]

macroban Wrote:

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> Were you in breach of Bye-law 56?

Definitely not - tho' a cool glass of beer would have really enhanced the pleasure of sitting there in the sun.

Thanks to all poster for general support. It encourages me that we should all ignore / protest against petty officaldom, if we don't then the overbearing bureaucracy will grow ever more.

[spadetownboy]

get straight onto boris i say. this could be what gets him over the finishing line campaigning for the right to sit on thames side walls.

[Azul]

Marmora Man Wrote:

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>

> I'm tempted to organise a mass "wall sit on" just

> for the fun of it.

>

> Edited to change "sit in" to "sit on"

I'm with you all the way.

Let's take a week off work and spend it on the wall

When is this happening?

[Cassius]

I'm with you on this - so many jobsworths so little real work to do.... goodness they'll be fining us for dropping cigar butts next - ooops...........

[tinagwee]

Have to admit I opened your thread to see if you were having one of your crazy rants at chav, but I have to say I agree with you on this sitting on the wall thing. Instead of the next forum drinks we could all go to that wall and sit there for an hour together. A forum outing.

We could even make it a yearly thing and have some sort of "protest" for things like this that are annoying (although not relatively important). We could get that guy Mark Thomas to come along.

[Jah Lush]

Good luck with the sit-in. With you on this. F**k officialdom. F**k the rules. Too many Little Hitler's in uniform.

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

I'll come! I love a good cause.

[giggirl]

Count me in too (is there a coffee shop nearby though?)

[tinagwee]

bring some caffeine tablets with you.

we'll be spending some time there, and we don't you going through a bad patch

[azul pretending to be tina]

[woodie]

count me in.

[david_carnell]

Yes, yes, well done all of you. Now, move along. Nothing to see here. 'Op it the lot ya! Ruddy layabouts.

[bon3yard]

These are the sort of people who were 'just following orders' under the Nazis. Small men with even smaller...

[karter]

Can't believe that officer in Lozzy's short film, outrageous.

[louisiana]

Local authorities etc are increasingly handing over what were public spaces to private organisations. There was a good piece - book extract - in the Observer/Guardian a few weeks back - covering in particular a case in Liverpool where whole streets are being lost from the public sphere, as well as the situation in Chinatown in London.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/mar/29/communities

I'm with you on this. Not unreasonable behaviour at all.

And as it happens, the local authority has been trying to change bye laws to stop people cycling along the Thames path near there too. Quite a stink thrown up by cyclists when this was found out.

[shoshntosh]

were you starkers on the wall??

[beef]

We're all with you MM! I've been told a couple of stories this week of people being stopped filming near various public buildings. Is this an erosion of civil liberties or is it a case of too many people being employed to do too little? The recent explosion of PCO's on our streets to 'protect' us in this terrible terrible war on terror need something to do, and frankly out on the streets there's bugger all to do except hassle innocent people. I'm sure if you were of arabic persuasion, scoping out Whitehall with a camcorder, wearing a large sign calling for jihad and death to all westerners, you would be left well alone as to interfere would be against you're human rights. There does seem a disproportionate amount of these noddies about to tell you to get off the wall, stop filming, stop looking, stop drawing, stop talking, just shut up, go home and watch T.V.,as though we are living under the mujahideen. It reminds me of the scene in Persopolis where the grandmother has to kow tow to the man who used to be her window cleaner. A little uniform goes a long way......

[Marmora Man]

shoshntosh Wrote:

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> were you starkers on the wall??

No that would count as frightening the horses and be a legitimate reason to bang me up!