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Legal Eagle

The Public

Q: Causing public obstruction

I am a street entertainer operating in a busy town. In the course of my work I frequently run into problems with local shopkeepers and occasionally with the police. Can you tell me what rights, if any, I have?

A: Street entertainers are largely dependent upon the tolerance and good humour of both the police and the general public. For this reason I am not surprised you frequently encounter problems.

You are vulnerable to three possible sources of attack: namely statutory offences, local byelaws and/or civil action. In the Metropolitan Police district it is an offence to use any noisy instrument for the purpose of announcing any show or entertainment or obtaining money.

In the City of London it is also an offence to continue to cry or call out or blow any noisy instrument, whether musical or not, for the same purpose, after being warned by the police not to do so.

Furthermore, any householder within the Metropolitan Police District may personally require a street musician or singer to move on due to disturbance or other reasonable or sufficient cause, and it is an offence not to comply with any such request. Any person who in any street to the obstruction annoyance or danger of residents or passengers exhibits any show or public entertainment, is also guilty of an offence.

Bye-laws for the prevention and suppression of nuisances may be made by the council of any district or by a London borough, regulating street behaviour, and prohibiting the playing of musical instruments or singing in the street after being required by a police constable to stop, whether causing annoyance to householders or not.

However, an absolute prohibition against music has been held to be unreasonable. If you wish to find out what (if any) bye-laws relating to street entertainers are in force in your area, you will need to telephone your local council.

Such bye-laws will not, however, override any statutory offence. If the police, whether prompted by a complaint or not, consider you are making a nuisance of yourself or obstructing the highway you may be asked to move on and will be liable to prosecution if you fail to do so.

Finally civil action for nuisance can be taken by an aggrieved party, although it is unlikely that this would be worthwhile, except in the most extreme circumstances, because a complaint to the police is likely to be a cheaper and quicker remedy.

If you are doing this sort of work regularly you will find it pays to be co-operative with the police and any member of the public who complains about your activities. Resistance is likely to be counterproductive in the long run.

First published June 1995