Your Urbex Stories

[krela]

There is no legal impetus for the police to make you delete your photos.

 

[lost]

They are easy enough to recover though, saves messing...

 

[Zotez]

We were told yesterday that they can seize them as evidence but cannot make you delete them or delete them themselves.

 

[krela]

We were told yesterday that they can seize them as evidence but cannot make you delete them or delete them themselves.

Not without a warrant they couldn't, and they would have to arrest and charge you to do that...

 

[Zotez]

Yes, I think the discussion was along the lines that if we admitted to having a photo of how we got in then we could be arrested and it could be used as evidence etc, but they werent really interested in arresting us, just a little annoyed I think.

 

[krela]

Yes, I think the discussion was along the lines that if we admitted to having a photo of how we got in then we could be arrested and it could be used as evidence etc, but they werent really interested in arresting us, just a little annoyed I think.

They were also talking utter *****, unless the photo happened to show you breaking in with those pliers of yours... which is what they may have been hoping.

 

[Zotez]

Well either way it was in a general conversation - never once did they say they were going to take our cameras or anything, one of our group asked if they could legally delete our photos, thats all.

The dog handler actually asked if we'd got any good pictures of the place and took a look at a few, it would have been a pleasent experience if I hadnt been worried about getting arrested.

 

[krela]

Half the time the police don't even know what the law is, so it's better to know it yourself.

Ah well, lesson learnt on your part I would imagine!

 

[Zotez]

I was contemplating questioning the security guard on whether or not he is allowed to actually stop us from leaving, but he had already called the police and I didnt really want to start a lawful rebellion ending in us walking out the exit as the police arrived! At the end of the day next time i'll make sure anything suspicious that I do have is hidden before I enter a building, and also I wont be returning to Pyestock again!

Ah well it was an experience either way!

 

[krela]

I was contemplating questioning the security guard on whether or not he is allowed to actually stop us from leaving, but he had already called the police and I didnt really want to start a lawful rebellion ending in us walking out the exit as the police arrived! At the end of the day next time i'll make sure anything suspicious that I do have is hidden before I enter a building, and also I wont be returning to Pyestock again!

Ah well it was an experience either way!

Why take any thing suspicious at all?

 

[KooK.]

WEll seing as how 2 of us had photos, and its easy enough to recover them, nobody argues, no point. Was the first of a long day of exploring and no point getting into arguments with police over photos that can be recovered. Sol actually managed to switch his card before being caught and take a few quick crappy photos.

 

[Zotez]

Why take any thing suspicious at all?

I had not realised I had the pliers and cutters until I checked in my bag once we were in the woods at Pyestock - although I still do carry spanners and things for use on my bike when we're on bike rides (often to explorable places).

I didnt go there intending to break in at all.

 

[krela]

I had not realised I had the pliers and cutters until I checked in my bag once we were in the woods at Pyestock - although I still do carry spanners and things for use on my bike when we're on bike rides (often to explorable places).

I didnt go there intending to break in at all.

I don't for one second think you did, but you're putting yourself at risk just by carrying them, however justified it may be.

 

[Em_Ux]

Thanks for sharing.Have enjoyed having a read

 

[spungletrumpet]

Half the time the police don't even know what the law is, so it's better to know it yourself.

Totally sound advice.

Many people have been asked to delete photos by the fuzz. What a lot of people fail to realise is that, if the officer is suspicious that you may have committed a crime, then deleting photos is tantamount to destruction of evidence. That makes him a very naughty copper indeed.

It's easy to 'just go along with what they say because you don't want to cause trouble', but every time this happens the cops just think they can get away with it.
Stand your ground. Know your rights. Tell them nothing.

 

[Zebra]

Stand your ground. Know your rights. Tell them nothing.

You can only do that to a certain extent before they start a-yupping at you, but great advice

 

[Foxylady]

When I was at art college myself and a few friends used to explore a few places during our breaks & free time, including a gorgeous old Arts & Crafts style house which had been abandoned for some time. One lunch time we decided to go to the house again. Myself and another girl were the first to arrive and were sploring upstairs when my friend looked through the window and saw the lads coming up the drive. "Quick", she said "Let's hide and jump out at them". So we ran into a room where I leapt behind the door and, with a scream, promptly fell through the floor! Fortunately not all the way through, lol, and despite us both helpless with laughing my mate managed to pull me out. Anyway, when we got back to college (me covered in plaster and stuff), we collared hold of the guys and asked what happened to them. "Well", said one "We were half way up the drive when we heard this terrible scream, so we legged it."

My first visit to Racal Electronics was just a reccee, but my luck was in and the gate to the fence was open. I was pretty new to the idea of 'urbex' then, despite having mooched around derelict stuff in my earlier life, and it was my first factory. Anyway, I snuck in and took some pics around the exterior (it was late on a January afternoon and starting to get dark), then found an open door. Grabbed a couple of pics from just inside and was wondering whether to go further in when I heard mens voices and footsteps on the stairs. So I quietly left the factory and was swiftly making my way up the alley between buildings when I heard "Oi!!!" behind me. Jesus H Christ on a bike, I very nearly had a heart-attack! Then the guy shouted my name...it was a guy I knew, and he and another bloke were shifting out the kitchen equipment. Hee.

During my second visit to Shapwick Grange Quarry I was having a mooch around the excavations and to get a better look decided to jog up the top of a slagheap. Trouble was, it was chalk limestone and had been raining for several weeks......ever get that sinking feeling? Before I knew it I was almost up to my knees and stuck fast. The only way I could get out was to literally dig out one foot first, and then the next. It was January too and bloody freezing!

 

[227angrydonkeys]

So im at hellingly with my ex, whos terrified of dogs, more of that later though. and we had been there a week previously and just walked straight in through the front door, this time , however , it was al lfreshly boarded up, so we walked around it and it had all been done, even the conservatory. however, round the front they had missed out the boilerroom windows, so bingo, we are in, and its cool, cos for once its pretty deserted in there. so we wander around for a while , then bump into two kids who look a bit spooked. "how did you get in?" says I. "over a roof" they say, "but i think security saw us". "fabulous", says I. we chat a while longer and they say theyre going to try and leave by the way we came in and off they trot. So we decide to see how they get on and go up to the top floor near the front block by the watertower, just in time to see them both being hauled off my security towards another security guy with a dog the size of a small bear. (not a koala bear, something like a small black bear, a proper bear though) then the police arrive and i had a little special moment where one of them looked up and we made eye contact. i felt special for a second, then remembered the serious nature of our predicament. "we have to leave, now" says I. and we quickly move down to the ground floor. no way out and we cna hear the security car going round the perimiter and back al lthe time. in the end we settle on a first floor window with access to a tree and make the jump onto the tree, we had to time the descent of the tree and hiding in a bush wih the car coming past, then again over the perimeter fence and then a long crawl thorugh the grass to that gap in the hedge, al lthe while with police and security a whisker away. we climbed out through the hole just in time to see the two kids wave at us from the back of a car as we strolled down the drive like a pair of lost ramblers. I have to say, it was probably the most exciting thing that had happened to me in years. (probably since that time i got run over)

 

[Mercury]

Me and a friend decided we'd have a look round the hippodrome in Derby. So, as darkness fell we entered unseen via the normal route. To begin with the explore was rather uneventful, until i spotted an open area about a floor above where we were standing. Like the ninja he is he decides to climb up the wall to have a look inside, leaving me by myself below. From where i was standing i had a view onto the street below. All of a sudden these two blokes come up to where the fence around the outside of the hippodrome is and start looking in my direction...****. I hear one of them they can see a face in the dark, i rather quickly make my way into the shadows. They then both disappear then reappear carrying a knackered sofa between them make there way to the fence. They throw the thing over and proceed to leg it. I call to my friend to hurry the hell up, and we get out of there as fast as possible.

 

[mookster]

~snip~

That's class reminds me of my 2nd (and sadly last) visit to Hellingly in November last year, almost being devoured by brambles and dead trees on the way in (and out) the long way round to avoid the contractors and demo men on The Drive who at that stage were finishing destroying Park House before they began the move onto the main site was just that start...me and my friend visited at the end of a particularly bad spell of wet and windy weather, luckily for the visit it was lovely winter sunshine but still was blowing a gale so throughout the explore we had not only the sounds of doors slamming, metal crashing, the wind howling down the corridors and through stripped windows, but also the ever-present sounds of mechanical destruction mere yards away. Was a fantastic atmosphere, my favourite explore I've ever done, I managed to see almost the entire site and I'm so glad I did.

Although looking back on the moment we were in an upstairs ward near the tower, watching Mr. Security Guard wandering around outside the gate on his phone oblivious to our presence and me deciding it would be a good time to engage 'mr butterfingers' and drop my camera on the floor with a loud bang makes me embarassed, luckily the sound was drowned out by the aforementioned mechanical sounds and wind.

The other encounter I feel worthy of expanding upon was the one I mentioned in my first post with the guard dogs...

The venue was Wispers School for Girls in Haslemere. The people were the same as for my Hellingly trip - me and my friend Adam. The date was December 8th 2009. The events were funny, bizarre, and exhilarating.

Those of you who know this location will know just what it is like - absolutely untouched. It looks, for all intents and purposes, like it is still in use. The grounds are still maintained. No big fences, no vandalism, not even any broken windows. Just small keep out signs. So me and Adam, on a bright and chilly Tuesday morning, pick our way across the neatly mowed lawn and manicured bushes to the access point and began our explore in high spirits. It went without a hitch for the first 45 minutes or so. We worked our way methodically through the beautiful building and soon arrived in what appeared to be an old store room or caretakers room. This is where the explore took a weird turn. Inside this room were cupboards, and in amongst the packets of new fire door signs, old electronic equipment, safety signs and manuals, were numerous very sharp knives, a band saw, a normal saw, masks, a jerry can half full of petrol and a bottle of diesel fuel. We had a bit of a laugh with the masks and stuff, until we heard a car pull up in the car park outside the building, by the window of the store room. Two car doors open and close, followed by the sound of the boot opening and some barking.....

Minorly crapping ourselves, we decide to get out of the room we are in and try and get as far away from them as possible. We emerge back into the corridor, when Adam hears a key turn in a locked door at the end of the hallway. At that point we leg it upstairs, and, like something out of a comedy, take cover in a shared bathroom, hiding in individual shower cubicles next to each other. After about ten minutes of whispered plans accompanied by the sound of footsteps and barking from downstairs we decide to try and sneak out and go around wherever the dogs were. So we venture along the upstairs and down the big carved wooden central staircase, and find ourselves after a lot of tiptoeing in the canteen area. Shutting the door behind us we take a breather, listening out for any signs they are near us. All seemed dead so I made my way over to a closed door behind the serving area, and as I reach for the handle, a huge amount of barking erupts from behind the door. At that, we fling the door we'd just come through open, and leg it through the ground floor making our way to the big reception/meeting rooms at the front of the building. Through pure luck earlier in the explore, Adam had found and noted a tiny door set into one of the big window frames, which could only be opened from inside. We found the room it was in, hurriedly opened it and squeezed through onto the patio outside, leapt over the wall separating the patio and lawn and legged it all the way back over the lawn and down the drive, only stopping when we reached the main road, as we started laughing and trying to comprehend what we'd just escaped from. Biggest rush of my life.

After that encounter we headed over to Harold Wood Hospital in Essex, starting on the roof of the maternity hospital and working our way down we got caught by security one floor from the bottom, got led back to the cabin and met a rather hot female security guard. And as a final effort we did what remained of Tangley Place in Guildford in the rain and fading light of a December evening. An interesting day!