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CCTV footage taken from a parking camera looking into a bedroom |
PARKING CCTV ‘SNOOPED IN ON BEDROOM’
Fury as council cameras are caught looking into private home
A CCTV camera set up to catch parking cheats has been caught snooping on a Bayswater bedroom.
The West End Extra has seen video footage from one of Westminster Council’s spy cameras zooming into a luxury flat in Moscow Road.
The council had assured residents that the rotating street cameras, manned by operators in the council’s CCTV control centre in Lisson Grove, would automatically blur out when passing over residents’ rooms.
But the video, released following a Freedom of Information request, shows they are not.
John Zamit, chairman of the South East Bayswater Residents’ Association (SEBRA), said: “It is a very worrying development and a massive invasion of privacy. We were told that these privacy zones stopped people from being able to look in and now it turns out they don’t exist. Why would the council lie to people like that? Even if you can write in to get them set up, most people don’t even know where the CCTV cameras are.
“With more cameras than ever before, Westminster Council are becoming Big Brother and people would be right to have legitimate concerns over operators being able to spy into their houses and watch them get undressed. I’m sure it doesn’t happen very often but I bet it does happen.
“And how can you train someone not to look? That’s ridiculous. It can’t be done.”
The video, obtained by a member of the South East Bayswater Residents Association, shows a BMW illegally parked on a double yellow line.
But when it leaves, the camera tilts upwards and zooms in on the window of a home in Moscow Road.
Previously, parking chiefs had denied that any of Westminster’s 261 cameras could be used for snooping because of special grids called “privacy zones” that blur the image when a camera passes over an office or private residence.
But in a U-turn the council has watered down its assurances, saying staff are trained not to look into windows and that concerned residents must now write to them requesting to be “zoned out” of images or risk being on full show.
Campaigners say that training does not go far enough in protecting their privacy and fear members of staff could abuse the technology.
The cameras were set up to catch parking cheats with over 10 per cent of penalty charges – £5million a year – issued directly because of CCTV images.
Mr Zamit added: “Why are Westminster Council not following government guidelines that advise moderation in the use of CCTV cameras? I suspect they need the money, but all it means is that honest motorists are being stung for fines for leaving their car outside a shop for a minute. They are being used as a cash machine.
“I think the whole thing is very sneaky.”
Labour leader Councillor Paul Dimoldenberg said: “The use of CCTV cameras has increased dramatically over recent years and it is now time to do a thorough review of the council’s use of cameras to ensure that any abuses of civil liberties are stopped and that the cameras focus on detecting serious crimes and offences.”
Fears that CCTV operators can spy into windows of flats and houses have been stoked after it emerged that only three of the borough’s cameras have privacy restrictions.
A spokeswoman from the council said they were currently reviewing their use of CCTV. She also said that privacy zones were now in operation on most of the council’s mobile cameras. |
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