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GUIDE · UK DRONE LAW

UK drone law: what your business can do about drones.

A plain-English guide for security and operations teams. The laws that apply when a drone appears over your site, who is allowed to act, and what a private organisation can lawfully do.

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This guide is general information about UK law as we understand it on the date above. It is not legal advice. Some rules differ between England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, so take advice on your own site before acting.

In short

  • Detecting, tracking and recording drones is the part of counter-drone work a private organisation can do for itself.
  • Jamming, spoofing, taking over or bringing down a drone is not open to private operators. Using a jammer is an offence under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006.
  • The Civil Aviation Authority regulates drone flying under the Air Navigation Order 2016 and the UK drone regulations. Enforcing those rules is a job for the police.
  • Airports, prisons and some other sites are protected by Flight Restriction Zones. Flying in one without permission is an offence.
  • Since 1 January 2026, many new drones must broadcast Remote ID, and the requirement widens in 2028.
  • Your strongest lever is good evidence, handed to the police quickly.

Why private operators can’t jam drones

Most drones are flown over radio links and navigate using satellite signals. Using any equipment for the purpose of interfering with those signals is an offence under section 68 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, punishable by up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine on conviction in the Crown Court. Installing or using radio equipment without an Ofcom licence or exemption is a separate offence under section 8, and Ofcom does not authorise or license jammers.

Jamming rarely stays on your site. It can disrupt mobile phones, emergency service radios, aviation systems and satellite navigation well beyond your boundary. A drone that loses its link may hover, fly home, land or drift away, and nobody can predict which.

Taking control of a drone or spoofing its navigation has the same problems. Interfering with radio or satellite signals is an offence under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, and taking over a drone’s systems can also be an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. These techniques are reserved for the police and other authorised bodies.

Physically capturing or damaging a drone yourself, for example with a net or a projectile, can be an offence of damaging someone else’s property and of endangering an aircraft. A falling drone could also injure people or damage property below it.

Detection is lawful, with some care

Watching for drones is the lawful starting point for most sites, but each kind of sensor comes with its own rules.

  • Remote ID receivers pick up a broadcast that drones make so that people nearby can identify them.
  • RF detectors listen for the radio links between a drone and its controller. Section 48 of the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006 makes it an offence to use radio equipment, without lawful authority, to find out the contents, sender or addressee of a message not meant for you, or to disclose that information, and interception can also be an offence under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. Ask how a detector works and what it stores.
  • Radar transmits, so it needs an Ofcom licence unless its frequency band and power fall under a licence exemption.
  • Cameras that capture people, vehicles or a pilot’s location are processing personal data, so UK GDPR and the ICO’s guidance on video surveillance apply.

Any reputable supplier should be able to explain the licensing and data protection position for each sensor they install.

The rules drone pilots must follow

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulates drone flying in the UK. The main rules are in the Air Navigation Order 2016 and the UK regulation on unmanned aircraft operations, which the CAA summarises for pilots in the Drone Code.

In the open category, which covers most leisure flying and many low-risk commercial jobs, pilots must keep the drone in sight, fly no higher than 120 metres (400 feet) above the ground, keep away from uninvolved people and stay out of restricted airspace. Since 1 January 2026, anyone flying a drone of 100 grams or more needs a Flyer ID. The operator needs an Operator ID if the drone weighs 250 grams or more, or weighs 100 grams or more and has a camera. Flights outside these limits need an authorisation from the CAA.

Owning land does not give you control of the airspace above it: your rights extend only as high as you need for the ordinary use of the land. A drone over your site is not automatically breaking the law, although flying close to people or buildings, or in restricted airspace, may well be. The courts have not settled exactly when a drone overhead becomes trespass, and a drone used to film or harass people can raise other issues such as privacy or harassment.

Flight Restriction Zones

Some airspace is closed to drones unless the pilot has permission.

  • Airports. Each protected aerodrome has a Flight Restriction Zone, usually its aerodrome traffic zone plus runway protection zones that reach 5 kilometres out from each runway end, and 1 kilometre beyond the airfield boundary. Drones of any size need permission from air traffic control, or from the airport if air traffic control can’t be reached, to fly there.
  • Prisons. Since 25 January 2024, it has been an offence to fly a drone without permission from HM Prison and Probation Service in the restricted airspace around closed prisons and young offender institutions in England and Wales, which reaches roughly 400 metres from each site.
  • Other restrictions. Temporary restrictions can be put in place around events, emergencies and sensitive sites, and some sites have permanent restricted airspace.

A site owner cannot create a restriction zone on their own. A site can ask the CAA for an airspace restriction through its ACOMS portal, at least 90 days in advance for a temporary one, and if the case is accepted the Secretary of State for Transport makes the regulations. If your site is regularly overflown, publishing who pilots should ask and how makes it easier to tell legitimate flights from the rest.

Remote ID

Remote ID is a broadcast from a drone in flight. It carries the Operator ID, the drone’s serial number, position, height and course, the pilot’s position and any emergency status, but no personal details. The CAA describes it as a way for police and enforcement bodies to check whether a flight is legal.

Since 1 January 2026, drones with a UK1, UK2 or UK3 class mark must fly with Remote ID switched on. From 1 January 2028 this extends to UK0 drones of 100 grams or more with a camera, UK4 model aircraft, and older or home-built drones of 100 grams or more with a camera.

Remote ID changes the question a site has to answer. When most drones identify themselves, a drone that broadcasts and matches a known, approved flight can be set aside quickly, and attention goes to the ones that don’t. From 2028, a camera drone of 100 grams or more that isn’t broadcasting is likely to be flying outside the rules, which on its own makes it worth a closer look.

A single receiver only hears drones in its local area, so the picture improves as more receivers are connected. A wide network can follow a drone across a region and see it coming before it reaches a site, rather than only when it arrives.

Remote ID only works when a drone broadcasts it, and someone flying to cause harm may switch it off or use a drone without it. That makes it a base layer rather than full coverage: it sorts the known from the unknown, and sites at higher risk add RF detection, radar or cameras to find and confirm drones that stay silent.

What the police can do

The Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act 2021 gave police across the UK specific powers over drones. Officers can require a drone to be landed, ask the pilot and operator for proof of competence and registration, stop and search people and vehicles for certain drone offences, search premises with a warrant, seize drones and issue fixed penalty notices for less serious offences.

The Act also lets the police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and prison authorities authorise interference with drones, including their radio signals, to prevent or detect drone offences. Those powers are theirs, not a private site operator’s.

Call 999 if a drone is putting people in immediate danger, and 101 or your local force’s online reporting for other incidents. Note the time, the drone’s position and direction of travel, and anywhere you think the pilot may be.

What your organisation can do

01
Assess your riskThe National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) publishes guidance on assessing a site’s vulnerability to drones and preparing a response.
02
Detect and recordUse lawful sensors to know when drones appear, where they go and whether they are approved.
03
Plan your responseAgree who is told, how staff protect people and sensitive work, for example by moving people indoors or pausing an operation, and when to call the police.
04
Keep evidenceTimes, tracks, imagery and Remote ID data help the police act, and support conversations with insurers and regulators.
05
Work with legitimate pilotsGive approved flights a simple way to tell you in advance, so your team only deals with the unknowns.
06
Talk to the police earlyYour local force and counter-terrorism security advisers can advise sites at higher risk before anything happens.

Sources

KEEP READING
  • Counter-drone FAQ

    Detection versus mitigation, choosing sensors and how Wardglass fits your site.

  • Glossary

    Plain definitions of C-UAS, RF detection, EO/IR, Remote ID and more.

  • Sectors

    How we set Uavity up for airports, infrastructure, events and more.

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