Universal Aviation, Stansted - a note for northside spotters
Posted: Tue Aug 15, 2017 7:06 pm
To all persons visiting Stansted northside,
this afternoon I had a conversation with a spokesman from Universal Aviation regarding the historic as well as the most recent incursions onto their land. The first point he made is that they have no problem with plane spotters who behave properly, obey the signs and other rules. They cannot however accept people breaking those rules for any reason whatsoever and as such will not tolerate enthusiasts on their site. The whole of northside is privately owned by MAG and as tenants of MAG they have full rights to keep their site private.
They have suffered from uncontrolled walking onto their land, into their offices and even using their ‘facilities’ all of which causes disruption and bad publicity with respect to their clients. They have high profile clients using their business and those (and all their)customers expect the highest level of confidentiality and privacy. This is a highly competitive business and as such they have to meet extremely high standards to satisfy their clients.
They are also being asked to maintain the highest levels of security following the protesters’ break in a few months ago and again that means that they will only allow those with a lawful right to be on their site to be present at any time. They also have to maintain a safe site for all those using it.
Another particularly disturbing occurrence was someone becoming abusive when asked to leave whilst they were handing a VIP, something we should all realise could have an extremely adverse effect on their business. Their MD has even had to go into the car park to remove people on occasions. One person claimed to be a member of a local group (I won’t name it) but rest assured that no group’s membership confers any rights of access to private land on the airport without the owners/tenant’s expressed permission, that is not granted in this case under any circumstances.
They have installed a fence together with signage and it should be perfectly clear that nobody should go beyond that fence, here are links to photos of the signs and there is absolutely no ambiguity about the message whatsoever:
universal signs 1837 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr
universal signs cropped 1837 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr
In short it says ‘please keep out at all times’.
He also said that if the incursions continue and the current messages are not taken notice of they may consider asking the owners to ban all enthusiasts from northside completely, they don’t want to – they want us to enjoy our hobby but within the rules, but if it affects their business then they will do so to protect their operations. He put it like this ‘It’s totally disrespectful. If you worked on a lorry park you wouldn’t want me to come wandering about uninvited taking photos and numbers on my day off while you were trying to run a business would you’ We really do ask that enthusiasts are respectful to our operations – I agreed fully with that sentiment. I think that focusses on the problem rather well.
He thanked me very much for taking the time to speak to him and I did likewise, hopefully I have at least prevented a few bridges from burning or even better built one or two.
Now as enthusiasts, let’s think about these points for a moment :
1: loss of business means fewer aircraft, does anybody in this group want that? I very much doubt it and as such ask that you stick fully to their rules.
2: If this continues to be a problem and they (or any other company suffering the same intrusions) ask for measures to be introduced to keep spotters out of the northside it will severely affect all our enjoyment, northside is probably the jewel in the crown as far as spotting at Stansted is concerned so I ask you all to remember that and please, please stick to the rules and in particular remember that ‘keep’ out means ‘keep out’. If there’s a fence or a sign respect it and obey it.
3: The police are very tolerant of our hobby, they accept that we want to spot on the northside and only on rare occasions do they ask us to leave and always for very good reasons, they tread a very fine line between being tolerant and ensuring the northside businesses carry on undisturbed. If this and other operators start complaining to the police about spotting activities then they will have to be seen to be enforcing the bylaws more effectively and the present good relationship may be lost to the detriment of out hobby.
So, in conclusion, please stick to the rules, stay out of anywhere that it is apparent that you are not wanted and help to maintain our access to the northside,
Please feel free to share to other groups
Many thanks
Andrew
this afternoon I had a conversation with a spokesman from Universal Aviation regarding the historic as well as the most recent incursions onto their land. The first point he made is that they have no problem with plane spotters who behave properly, obey the signs and other rules. They cannot however accept people breaking those rules for any reason whatsoever and as such will not tolerate enthusiasts on their site. The whole of northside is privately owned by MAG and as tenants of MAG they have full rights to keep their site private.
They have suffered from uncontrolled walking onto their land, into their offices and even using their ‘facilities’ all of which causes disruption and bad publicity with respect to their clients. They have high profile clients using their business and those (and all their)customers expect the highest level of confidentiality and privacy. This is a highly competitive business and as such they have to meet extremely high standards to satisfy their clients.
They are also being asked to maintain the highest levels of security following the protesters’ break in a few months ago and again that means that they will only allow those with a lawful right to be on their site to be present at any time. They also have to maintain a safe site for all those using it.
Another particularly disturbing occurrence was someone becoming abusive when asked to leave whilst they were handing a VIP, something we should all realise could have an extremely adverse effect on their business. Their MD has even had to go into the car park to remove people on occasions. One person claimed to be a member of a local group (I won’t name it) but rest assured that no group’s membership confers any rights of access to private land on the airport without the owners/tenant’s expressed permission, that is not granted in this case under any circumstances.
They have installed a fence together with signage and it should be perfectly clear that nobody should go beyond that fence, here are links to photos of the signs and there is absolutely no ambiguity about the message whatsoever:
universal signs 1837 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr
universal signs cropped 1837 by Andrew Goldsmith, on Flickr
In short it says ‘please keep out at all times’.
He also said that if the incursions continue and the current messages are not taken notice of they may consider asking the owners to ban all enthusiasts from northside completely, they don’t want to – they want us to enjoy our hobby but within the rules, but if it affects their business then they will do so to protect their operations. He put it like this ‘It’s totally disrespectful. If you worked on a lorry park you wouldn’t want me to come wandering about uninvited taking photos and numbers on my day off while you were trying to run a business would you’ We really do ask that enthusiasts are respectful to our operations – I agreed fully with that sentiment. I think that focusses on the problem rather well.
He thanked me very much for taking the time to speak to him and I did likewise, hopefully I have at least prevented a few bridges from burning or even better built one or two.
Now as enthusiasts, let’s think about these points for a moment :
1: loss of business means fewer aircraft, does anybody in this group want that? I very much doubt it and as such ask that you stick fully to their rules.
2: If this continues to be a problem and they (or any other company suffering the same intrusions) ask for measures to be introduced to keep spotters out of the northside it will severely affect all our enjoyment, northside is probably the jewel in the crown as far as spotting at Stansted is concerned so I ask you all to remember that and please, please stick to the rules and in particular remember that ‘keep’ out means ‘keep out’. If there’s a fence or a sign respect it and obey it.
3: The police are very tolerant of our hobby, they accept that we want to spot on the northside and only on rare occasions do they ask us to leave and always for very good reasons, they tread a very fine line between being tolerant and ensuring the northside businesses carry on undisturbed. If this and other operators start complaining to the police about spotting activities then they will have to be seen to be enforcing the bylaws more effectively and the present good relationship may be lost to the detriment of out hobby.
So, in conclusion, please stick to the rules, stay out of anywhere that it is apparent that you are not wanted and help to maintain our access to the northside,
Please feel free to share to other groups
Many thanks
Andrew