This may be the most difficult situation to deal with when flying your drone in public and over commercial premises. Some staff will put themselves out on a limb to have a go at you - just to impress their managers.

  When filming companies and commercial organisations, remain on PUBLIC LAND and never tresspass onto private property.

If you're approached by staff claiming to be security, ask to see their SIA Licence which should be on show (Section 9, Private Security Industries Act 2001) and available on request.

If you're approached by a company employee, again ask them to wait until you land your drone, and then engage in conversation. The way you interact with employees of a company should remain much the same as with members of the public but be aware of the GDPR obligations they are subjected to should they begin recording you in a public place.

Be aware of so-called "jobsworths" who are ignorant to the law. Like the head of security for Virgin Media O2 in this video, they often lack experience in dealing with the public and can escalate a situation very quickly. These people not only embarrass themselves, but they show their company in a very bad light which then makes them difficult to reason with.

There are instances where company employees resort to violence to deter photographers and pilots. In this video, the Managing Director of Libra Speciality Chemicals Ltd. tries to smack the drone controller out of the auditors hands and then proceeds to push into him and threaten him. This could have ended very badly indeed if the remote was damaged or hit the ground as the drone could have dropped from the sky to the ground or into the site stuctures and chemical stores. This video explains why and how this could happen so easily.

While members of the public are allowed to film you flying your drone in public, employees of companies that film you in public whilst in a working capacity without your consent and without Lawful Basis will render the company liable under GDPR Article 6 as a Data Processor. You can request they give you a copy of, and/or that they delete any and all footage they record of you whilst in a public place. See how DJ Audits drops this bombshell. This will be done as a SAR (Subject Access Request).

  Note: Non compliance of a formal GDPR request can result in fines for a company of £17.5 million or 4% of the companies worldwide turnover; whichever is greater.

  We keep copies of our information leaflets with us when flying, you can download and print copies from here which you can hand to people as a free resource, explaining the drone legislation and provide detail about the type of flight you're undertaking.