King's Cross - one of the major stations where train-spotters have been ejected

Security and safety concerns at railway stations around the country have led to many train-spotters being told they must have permission to note numbers or take photographs.

BBC News Online revealed on Wednesday that reports were increasing of train-spotters being told to stop what they were doing. Many of them contacted us with their experiences.

Tim Pape wrote saying he and a friend had been asked to move away from the platform areas of stations. "It has happened quite a few times in recent months at King's Cross to my friend. There is an area of the platform furthest away from the concourse where you can see all the GNER trains in the 'trainshed' and the suburban units on the other side of the wall just before they enter the Gasworks tunnels to leave the station.

"This is a popular area with enthusiasts as it is well away from the public, and gives a good photographic viewpoint of the trains. It also does not hinder any station activities. It is here that we always get asked to leave due to 'security reasons' or 'safety reasons'."

Jon Blythe, of Yorkshire, says he was taking advantage of a bit of spare time at Waterloo late last year to look at a few trains, when he was told to leave on "health and safety grounds" by a security guard. "When asked which piece of H&S legislation was being broken, he or his manager didn't seem to know," he says.

I am fed up I can't get on with my hobby in peace and quiet Chris King, Devon Terror fear derails train-spotters

Peter Burnett says he and other train-spotters were taking advantage of the FA Cup Final last year in Cardiff to look at the extra trains which were running to the station. "Security guards were there and told us to move off the platform for our own safety. They suggested we would be safer outside the station - among the Arsenal and Liverpool fans!"

Chris King, from Devon, is a guard on a preserved railway, so says he is aware of the rules and regulations. But he writes: "I visit my girlfriend in Scotland and always get told to leave the station. I am fed up I can't get on with my hobby in peace and quiet. I enjoy taking photos which is 99% of the reason why I'm there."

Dave Seaton said rail enthusiasts faced disruption at a London station during a visit of a "special train", a 40-year-old locomotive. Their efforts to take photographs were frustrated by security guards who, he says, kept trying to get in people's pictures and even put their hands in front of lenses. He adds that "occasionally British Transport Police have come up just to check what's going on, but generally leave train spotters alone".

Solomon Riley writes saying he had been trying to film at Liverpool Street station two weeks ago. "I tried to film two locomotives at the end of the platform concourse during engineering work, but I was stopped by station staff who asked me to get permission from the Network Rail office on plaform 10. It was a Sunday and I walked to the office and found it is closed on Saturdays and Sundays. I gave up and went home."

Lawrence Living, 26, of Essex, has been a train-spotter since he was 12. He says he has been moved from platforms when taking photos. "At my local station at Romford, I was told I should have permission from the rail company. Now I have written to them for permission all the time."

Fazzy, of Birmingham, says a couple of months ago he was waiting for a special train at Tyseley, West Midlands, on a railway bridge near his home. "It's somewhere I have stood many times with my parents seeing such trains as the Flying Scotsman. I was waiting there all on my own when a police car turned up and told me to shift otherwise I would spend a night in a police cell. I asked the copper if he went down canals and threatened fishermen! He got back in his car and cleared off."

Kevin Bishop says he has been "challenged and told to move away from outside a locomotive depot in London for using binoculars to get locomotive numbers even though I was on a public footpath". The person telling him was not a policeman, but a private security guard.

Richard Plokhaar said he was questioned about his spotting at York station, but replied that he had a ticket and that he had the right to "do all the things I would do on the street, like taking photographs".

Yussuf says: "I was spotting a train at Euston station. A security guard came to me and told me to leave. I asked him why, and he told me that it was for my own safety and I must do it. To me it was bunch of choke."

Simon Harding says: "I wanted to photograph a train at a local station and was told I had to get permission first; I was then told I could only photo the one specific train and not any others. It's absurd."

David Tregenna, of Birmingham, wrote that he recently went to Liverpool Street, and asked permission to take a photo of a freight engine. He was, he says, told robustly to leave the station before the police were called.

CP Humphreys writes: "I'm not a train-spotter, but I was ejected from Euston station and threatened with arrest for being a security risk because I was waiting on the wrong part of the platform!"

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