MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

All pictures in London and Blackpool “verboten” by British police orders

No pictures please, just for your eyes!

The Austrian tourists who say they were forced by police to delete images of London buses amid terrorism fears have received help from the UK to recover their lost pictures.
Klaus Matzka and his son were left in shock when police demanded they stopped taking pictures of London buses and delete all such images immediately.

Klaus, from Vienna, said police told him it was 'strictly forbidden' to take pictures of anything transport related. Special image recovery software is available to salvage photos which have been accidentally deleted from memory cards.

Speaking this morning Klaus told Amateur Photographer (AP): 'I have had an enormous response, including one from your country with an invitation to recover my deleted pictures for free. Unfortunately, I had re-used my memory card in the meantime.'

However, AP technical writer Barney Britton said it may still be possible to recover some previously deleted image files on a re-used card, provided that not all the data has been overwritten with new pictures. 'It should still be possible to recover a handful of images,' he said.

Meanwhile, UK-based amateur photographer John Kelly, who was involved in a similar incident in Blackpool last year, urged Klaus to take the matter up with his MEP Member of the European Parliament.

'It looks like it is becoming a police state,' John told AP this morning. 'I feel sorry for Klaus, especially as he was with his son when it happened.'

Kelly claims a police community support officer (PCSO) ordered him to delete pictures, which included the officer in the frame. 'You can't take pictures of people without asking their permission' said the officer.

The 54-year-old had been planning to enter his street scenes into a photography competition when he was stopped in Blackpool centre around midday on Friday 8 February. He had been using a Nikon D40 digital SLR, a non-professional level camera.

Asked what further steps he plans to take over the matter, following widespread coverage in the British media, Klaus added: 'After writing a letter to The Guardian, which was published within an article yesterday, I think that's enough for the moment.'

Klaus thanked the media for highlighting his case which he hopes will help prevent similar incidents in future.