A Yorkshire Wetherspoons has defended installing CCTV cameras in the toilets.
The national pub chain has installed camera in the men’s and women’s toilet of The Lord Rosebery in Scarborough. The news came to light after a concerned punter posted a photo of the camera on social media site Reddit, questioning the legality of installing CCTV in the pub’s toilets.
Various confused users responded, worried it may give them “stage fright” if there was a camera looming over them as they urinated. JD Wetherspoon has said the cameras do not cover the urinals or cubicles, however, and are there to ensure ‘customer and staff safety’.
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The pub giant added it has CCTV installed in the bathrooms in “numerous” facilities, even though the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) says it’s only justified in ‘exceptional cases,’ such as ‘repeated serious antisocial behaviour’.
Wetherspoon spokesman Eddie Gershon said: “CCTV covering the communal sink areas only of both the male and female toilets of the pub are in place. The cameras do not cover the urinals or cubicles.
“The decision to install the cameras was taken to promote customer and staff safety. It augments the existing CCTV system in the rest of the pub which is in place for the same reason. Signage alerting customers to the cameras is in place in both sets of toilets.”
An ICO spokesperson said: “People have a heightened expectation of privacy on private property, but also in public toilets and changing rooms where the use of visual or audio recording would not be expected and is often difficult to justify.
(Image: Reddit: BuiltInYorkshire)
“If you are considering surveillance systems in these environments, you should only use them in the most exceptional circumstances, where it is necessary and proportionate to deal with very serious concerns.
“In exceptional cases – such as when dealing with repeated serious antisocial behaviour – it may be necessary to have surveillance in private areas, but you’d need strong justification for this and should make it clear that people are being filmed in these areas.
“You should carefully consider whether it is appropriate to use a surveillance system, and assess any potential impact this may have on the rights and freedoms people have under data protection law.”
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