It is not an offence to take photos in a public place so what is the point of asking and who would you ask anyway? Obviously photographs of children is a very sensitive area and rightly so. It is best to avoid photos of children other than your own unless permission has been given. Shopping malls are not public places and have their own rules and many, if not all, do not permit photography.

No police force has ever arrested a person for taking pictures in a public place.

Individual officers have wrongly used the terrorism act because they were poorly trained. All forces have issued clear guidelines to their officers that this must not happen.

The story is a non story because the man was taking pictures where it was clearly stated that it was not permitted. It does not matter what you or I think of the ban, it is private property and the public only have access if they abide by any rules set by those who run the establishment.

The story makes out that the person was been stopped because it was he was photographing his child - not true - so a non story.

bremner - I agree with you. If rules are set down, then you must obey them.

The law allows for photography in most public space, Braehead shopping centre however is not a public space it is owned by Capital Shopping Centres, they can make their own on-site rules, the photographer ignored the rules and caused the problem.

The security man asking the photographer to delete the images was wrong to do so, in exactly the same way a Police officer should not ask you to delete your images, it is evidence!

If you are trespassing or asked to leave you are required to do so, the security have no right to confiscate your camera, the police do though if they believe that you are up to something nefarious( that probably would entail getting arrested too), again any images would be evidence.

Regards asking permission in public places, try shooting a couple of thousand images a week in public and asking permission every-time, you will soon end up with a dry mouth and sore throat! agreed being polite is always the best way to behave, but unless your taking close ups of kids whose parent may object, then a lot of wasted time and loss of spontaneity.