Man arrested for playing bagpipes in public

[chasem]

Despite the irony of the Edinburgh ban, public pipe playing is not generally banned in the UK.

Edinburgh ban? I haven't heard anything about this. Did I miss something?

[McClef]

Edinburgh ban? I haven't heard anything about this. Did I miss something?

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/an...ipe.4178463.jp

And there is a thread about it at http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/p...al+mile+pipers

So you must have missed it originally.

[Nick the DSM]

fear of the dark??

[chasem]

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/an...ipe.4178463.jp

And there is a thread about it at http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/p...al+mile+pipers

So you must have missed it originally.

I had, I was away from home all summer. That's a bit depressing, though I don't recall seeing any pipers on the royal mile when I was there in '07, though I did see quite a few on Princes St.

[McELT]

I am just curious by the comment he made about his hour not being up, did he have some kind of license to be there or something?

I picked up on this also...

Perhaps there is a law in Bridport that allows buskers to play for an hour before they have to move on?

My best guess would be that the man was busking, otherwise why would he be playing in the streets...

Perhaps he got an idea from the comic someone recently posted on the board with the piper at the bus stop.

[CDNSushi]

Well, in the end whatever the police took him in for must have been quite minor since he was back out on the street in an hour. They probably just handed him an ASBO and told him to piss off. :-) (Did I get that right? I'm not British)... heh.

[O'Callaghan]

Whatever law was invoked against this man, he could never have been as annoying as the piper who choose to play in the middle of the night on the deck of a ferry between Harwich, England and Christiansand, Norway! That incident is ingrained in my mind forever. I was trying to sleep.

ETA: I assume the latter must have been blind drunk!

[Jock Scot]

Well, in the end whatever the police took him in for must have been quite minor since he was back out on the street in an hour. They probably just handed him an ASBO and told him to piss off. :-) (Did I get that right? I'm not British)... heh.

Well, not quite right.ASBO's are handed out by the courts and whilst the police may well have thought "p--- off"(not an expression used out loud in official, or, polite circles here) I very much doubt if they would have actually said it!

[McClef]

Well, in the end whatever the police took him in for must have been quite minor since he was back out on the street in an hour. They probably just handed him an ASBO and told him to piss off. :-) (Did I get that right? I'm not British)... heh.

ASBO means Anti Social Behaviour Order and as has been pointed out it's the courts that impose these and only for prolonged and continuous misbehaviour.

The police can use the caution option http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_caution but I doubt that this situation would have qualified for such a measure.

Here is a more detailed article about the incident - note the claims of "distress"! But clearly he was busking.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-shoppers.html

And the Scottish Daily Record report

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-shoppers.html

It appears he has had run ins with the police in other English towns in the past.

But I wonder what legal basis the "strong advice" the police gave him actually has.

[Kiltman]

I've heard some pipers who should never subject the rest of us to their playing. One of my friends who is a pipe major said the bagpipes are the only instrument that many feel they have a right to play badly and loudly. I love the pipes and have heard some really good pipers. When they're played well they are a joy to hear, when they are not I feel assaulted. Perhaps one of the police officers was a piper?