The Press Complaints Commission has ruled that IPC's Loaded magazine
had breached Clause 3 (Privacy) of the Code, by publishing a photograph
of a bank cashier at work without his consent.
The Commission
considered – as it has previously in regard to photographs taken in
other publicly accessible places such as restaurants, hotels and
offices – that the complainant was in a place where he had a reasonable
expectation of privacy.
The article was a feature on
millionaire "lottery lout" Michael Carroll and included a picture of
him withdrawing £15,000 from his local bank. The complainant was the
cashier at the branch and was included in the picture. He had not
consented to his photograph being taken or published. The complainant
considered that the publication of his image intruded into his private
life and could have led to security problems for him and his family.
The
Commission said that given the innocuous nature of the photograph, it
as satisfied that the magazine's offer to publish an apology, which
acknowledged its error, represented sufficient and proportionate
remedial action in response to the complaint.
No further action was therefore required.
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