Gazette readers want tougher laws on selling drones amid safety concerns

A large majority of readers wanted tighter controls on the sale of drones.

John Lewis has stopped selling drones because of the chaos they have caused at airports. The store removed the flying devices from their shelves amid growing concern over their misuse.

Drone sightings at Gatwick in December 2018 caused around 1,000 flights to be cancelled or diverted over 36 hours. It affected more than 140,000 passengers in the run-up to Christmas.

We asked in a Facebook poll: “Do you think rules and regulations around drones and who can use them need to be stricter?”

Of the 400 people who had voted at time of writing, 86% said yes, 14% said no.

Connor Gibson said: “The point is its these idiots who do a thing like this? Like common sense really; why would you fly one over an airport?”

Paul Thompson thinks we just need to uphold the current laws, saying: “Yeah shoot on sight. Really the law is already there.It’s enforcement that needs looking at.”

Irene Crammond was in favour of more controls, saying: “Definitely should have to have a licence to have a drone.”

But Michael Jones was not convinced. He said: “Who will impose and control the regulations? You do realise as with every new hare-brained idea the only people who end up paying are the ones who actually follow them.

Jen Brown simply said: “Well done John Lewis.”

Clare Taylor Coleman said: “I’ve had one flying over my garden, hovering there while I’m outside. It’s creepy”