UK police get new powers to seize and search naughty drones

Image: Getty Images/EyeEm

Remember the enormous, pre-Christmas chaos those drone sightings caused at London’s Gatwick Airport last month?

The ones that put the whole airport on lockdown, delayed roughly 1,000 flights and prompted a lengthy police investigation?

Well, it looks like people have had enough of it. In a tweet on Tuesday morning, the UK government’s Department for Transport announced the introduction of new powers for police to seize and search suspicious drones, as well as new airport exclusion zones and safety measures.

You can read the full announcement, which comes following a 5000-people strong consultation, on the government’s website. They’ve summarised the key points as follows:

– police to be given additional powers to land, seize and search drones

– government to work on expanded use of technology to detect and repel drones in sites like airports and prisons

– exclusion zone extended around airports where drones are banned from flying

– from November 2019 drone operators will be required by law to register

“There is no question but that lessons have to be learned from what happened at Gatwick,” Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said in a statement on Monday. “Passengers have to be able to travel without fear of their trips being disrupted by malicious drone use.

“Airports must be prepared to deal with incidents of this type, and the police need the proper powers to deal with drone offences.”