There is more trouble in the British country paradise of the Cotswolds, where villagers are complaining of tourist drones flying frequently overhead and filming them in their private spaces.
Castle Combe in south west England’s rolling Wiltshire countryside has only a few hundred residents but has seen angry scenes, according to a retired police officer, Hilary Baker, who spoke to the Sunday Times about visitors to the village who invade locals’ privacy by flying drones over gardens and close to buildings.
“It’s almost like some of the visitors have lost their moral compass, they have lost their boundaries. When you go into your back garden and put your washing out and there is a drone hovering 20 yards above your head, it really quite rankles,” she said. Baker recounted an incident where one villager was even filmed while taking a bath and said she receives verbal abuse “on a monthly basis” for asking the drone operators to stop.
Villager Draven McConville, told the BBC the problem is so bad that residents feel they have no privacy and sometimes are unaware they are being recorded. “I’ve had someone stand right on my driveway flying one. Obviously you can hear it,” he said.
After one visitor refused to land his drone and abused locals who had asked him to stop filming children in a local playground and flying the kit at first floor window level, police were called.
Another confrontation had a happier outcome. Retired bank manager and chairman of the parish council Fred Winup described a drone that had pursued him along the high street “just five feet above my head.” The device had been operated by a Californian visitor who Winup described as a “nice guy who didn’t know the rules and said he was sorry.”
The rules in question are now plastered on a sign erected by Wiltshire council in the village car park. It warns the public: “If you use these devices where people can expect privacy, such as inside their home or garden, you are likely to be contravening CAA [Civil Aviation Authority] guidelines”.
@charlieves12 The #beauty of the #cotswolds is overshadowed by mass tourism. #tourist #gloucestershire #bourton_on_the_water #england #visitengland #southwest #village #busy #outdoor #solofemaletraveler #travel #traveltiktok ♬ Airplane Mode – Outer Circle
In addition, guidelines around drone operation mean that pilots should keep the device where they can see to avoid accidents with people and structures. These clearly haven’t been respected in Castle Combe, where drones are said to have collided with the church roof and careered into trees. Winup told The Times: “People do lose control of drones and they could take an eye out.”
The drone issue is not the first time Cotswolds villages have been in the press recently. Nearby Bibury, which like Castle Combe claims to be England’s “prettiest village”, has received complaints about car park plans which some locals said threatened to overwhelm the village with tourists.
