The most unpleasant person in Caithness

[karia]

We were there a month or so ago and I have never been so ashamed to be
Scottish!

Thing is, the JO'g ferrry was in full sight at the back of it and made for a much better holiday pic. withoot the hassle.

Still, ....people were being turned away disappointed and left to believe that the Scots really are 'mean'

A privately owned signpost,...I ask you?

Karia

[NickInTheNorth]

does anyone know who owns the nearest bit of land?

Make a nice "community enterprise" presumably at the moment Caithness gets no benefit from the sign at all given that the company is Penzance based. And if tourists feel they get a bad deal it must be harmful to the tourist industry generally...

[neepnipper]

The sign is dismantled at the end of the day because at the start of the season last year the signs were stolen, the signs used to stay up all the time so you could take a pic after the photographer had gone.

I think the land around the fenced off area is council owned, the sign and land it sits on is owned by the Lands End to John O'Groats Trading Company who also own the Last House and the hotel (which is still in an appalling state, annoys me more every time I see it). That company is run by Heritage Great Britain who also run the Snowden mountain railway and other attractions across the UK.

I believe the photographer is on commission, which you would think would make him a bit more friendly.

[Tugmistress]

If you were to take a pic of the sign from outside the chained off area, your mate in the pic too but stood outside that particular area there would be nothing that he could do as you are stood on a public piece of ground.
Think i'll try it out when the daughter comes home unless someone is willing to be in the pic and try it with me?

[NickInTheNorth]

If you were to take a pic of the sign from outside the chained off area, your mate in the pic too but stood outside that particular area there would be nothing that he could do as you are stood on a public piece of ground.
Think i'll try it out when the daughter comes home unless someone is willing to be in the pic and try it with me?

Nice one tuggs - leave it 'til after the 9th August and we can arrange a "mass snap" get lots of us to turn up and take pictures without his consent. Be quite good fun

[Tugmistress]

you're on nick! the neep is back on the 10th! you are good at hunting stuff out on the net, somewhere there is a 'photographers rights' and i am sure it says about being able to take a pic on public land of private stuff and still being legal ..... have a mooch around and see what you come up with

[NickInTheNorth]

I'll certainly do that. Also I generally don't give a damn for petty rules so it's quite likely that I go and stand next to the sign and let you take my picture anyway

The only way he'll move me is physically - which will be an assault.

Be good to see the neep again I'll bring the family and make a day of it.

Anyone else up for it?

[Riffman]

As regards right to photograph, if it is in the public interest then he can't stop you. He can't turn you away for tresspassing either. lol this could be fun.....

[paris]

Oh i wish i was up there , this is just the sort of thing i would be involved in lol , how stupid not being "allowed " to take pics , . The thing is visitors will think its the scots being money grabbing having to have your pic taken by someone employed to do so , maybe an extra sign saying who is behind this jobsworth is erected. jan x

[concerned resident]

Why not get your picture taken at the Dunnet Head sign, as it is the most Northerly part of main land Scotland. John O Groats is only there to rip off the tourists. As for the New Trains, the bikes were in Inverness on the van before the train yesterday (Friday) as my son was on it, the train engine kept stopping as it was travelling south, and stoppped altogether outside Inverness, the passengers missed all there connections. (Nothing appears to have changed)

[connieb19]

maybe an extra sign saying who is behind this jobsworth is erected. jan x

I nearly choked on my breakfast lol.

[bothyman]

I believe the photographer is on commission, which you would think would make him a bit more friendly.

That could be the reason why he is unhappy when you try to use his sign for free.

[Boozeburglar]

Oh i wish i was up there , this is just the sort of thing i would be involved in lol , how stupid not being "allowed " to take pics , . The thing is visitors will think its the scots being money grabbing having to have your pic taken by someone employed to do so , maybe an extra sign saying who is behind this jobsworth is erected. jan x

I don't think the tired stereotype of the 'tight' Scot exists beyond the English imagination, and any tourists from there will certainly notice that a good number of the people they encounter working in the hotels and tourist related services in Scotland are certainly not Scots, and at John O'Groats itself there are plenty English folk serving behind counters.

[northener]

Right, let us get the facts straight.

The sign is NOTHING to do with the Lands End & John O'Groats Company - in other words the JOG Hotel and the Last House Shop and Museum.

It is NOTHING to do with any one who is based in John O'Groats, not the 'visitor centre' (as quoted in an early post - where's that then?), the Tourist Info, the ferry, Kev, Alistair or Dave's creel boats, the snack bar, the First and Last, the Seaview, Walter, Northcoast Marine Adventures, the campsite, Squawky the Black headed gull or the Radical Islamic Army of Tourist Traps.

John O'Groats is NEVER referred to as the Most Northerly Point by the two shops at the harbour, at least. They always tell people that Dunnet Head holds that honour, JOG is, traditionally, the furthest point by road from Lands End.

When you lot get down off your self-righteous, misinformed and 'enraged' high horses and actually start coming up with facts plus constructive view points, you'll be getting somewhere.

I think Neeps pointed out that the sign was taken down when the photographer wasn't there beacause it was vandalised on one occasion and stolen on another. Certainly I know that prior to these incidents,the people who run the sign were always happy to leave the sign out when the photographer wasn't there so tourists could take their photos'.

As for being miserable, I've seen first hand the guys (there's more than one photographer, but I bet most of you planks never even knew that) working on a regular basis and, on the whole, they seem to be fine with people. Bear in mind the amount of End to Enders they see every day, it's pretty hard to break out into spontentaneous and ecstatic applause every couple of hours.....

Whats up, do you lot have such perfect lives that you never have an off day?

You want to hear the way a (thankfully) small minority of tourists talk to people who work in places like Groats. They literally treat you like something they've trodden in, then you might actually realise it's a harder job than it looks.
How many of you would last more than a couple of days in a job like that?

Get a grip you narrow-minded idiotic bunch of sheep!

[northener]

Forgot, Boozeburglar is right about the notion that the Scots are tight-fisted. You don't know what tight-fisted means until you've met a Yorkshireman

[robglysen]

I am not a narrow minded idiotic sheep thank you, I am posting an experience I had. I wouldn't expect spontaneous applause but a smile and a good morning is hardly difficult.
As for not lasting five minutes in someone elses job you have no idea what i've done, or my wife.
I wonder if he was dependent on repeat business from the same people would his attitude change.

Baaaaaa.

[northener]

Your experience of the photograper was a brief one, my opinion has been formed by years of working there.

The narrow minded idiotic sheep are the ones who are jumping on the bandwagon, not your good self.

I don't care where you've worked or what you've done.

You are doing the right thing by highlighting your personal experience, but, I suggest you re-read the tile of this thread and then ask yourself - is that offensive description warranted?

If you, or anyone else for that matter, feel that it is, then you are beneath contempt.

[Tugmistress]

Right, let us get the facts straight.

The sign is NOTHING to do with the Lands End & John O'Groats Company - in other words the JOG Hotel and the Last House Shop and Museum.

It is NOTHING to do with any one who is based in John O'Groats, not the 'visitor centre' (as quoted in an early post - where's that then?), the Tourist Info, the ferry, Kev, Alistair or Dave's creel boats, the snack bar, the First and Last, the Seaview, Walter, Northcoast Marine Adventures, the campsite, Squawky the Black headed gull or the Radical Islamic Army of Tourist Traps.

John O'Groats is NEVER referred to as the Most Northerly Point by the two shops at the harbour, at least. They always tell people that Dunnet Head holds that honour, JOG is, traditionally, the furthest point by road from Lands End.

When you lot get down off your self-righteous, misinformed and 'enraged' high horses and actually start coming up with facts plus constructive view points, you'll be getting somewhere.

I think Neeps pointed out that the sign was taken down when the photographer wasn't there beacause it was vandalised on one occasion and stolen on another. Certainly I know that prior to these incidents,the people who run the sign were always happy to leave the sign out when the photographer wasn't there so tourists could take their photos'.

As for being miserable, I've seen first hand the guys (there's more than one photographer, but I bet most of you planks never even knew that) working on a regular basis and, on the whole, they seem to be fine with people. Bear in mind the amount of End to Enders they see every day, it's pretty hard to break out into spontentaneous and ecstatic applause every couple of hours.....

Whats up, do you lot have such perfect lives that you never have an off day?

You want to hear the way a (thankfully) small minority of tourists talk to people who work in places like Groats. They literally treat you like something they've trodden in, then you might actually realise it's a harder job than it looks.
How many of you would last more than a couple of days in a job like that?

Get a grip you narrow-minded idiotic bunch of sheep!

oooh, misinformed, self-righteous, idiotic, narrow minded and enraged? lol i think not.
I pointed out that there is no way the man/men (and yes actually i did know there is more than one!) could stop you taking a photograph of the sign with your friend in the picture from outside the chained area, if he tries he does not have a legal leg to stand on and i'll 'get a grip' on my camera to prove it

[bekisman]

Am I one too?
(I did say Sorry about the Co Ltd)

just found this, so seems to clear it up?

Wikipedia: The famous "journey's end" signpost at John o'Groats, like its counterpart at Land's End, is private property and owned and operated by a Penzance based firm called Courtwood Photographic. Private photography is forbidden, however, Sunday sees an absence of anyone from Courtwood Photographic at the signpost. To have your photo taken at the famous landmark, prices start at UK£9 (2007 prices) and are sent out in the post at a later date. Many people mistakenly believe that the signpost was erected by the Highland Council for general public use. That is not true. A "free" out-of-hours signpost is situated on the wall next to the First and Last souvenir shop and the harbour as the main signpost is dismantled at night by the site operator

[neepnipper]

Sorry if I misinformed, I used to work at the Last House and that's what I was told.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!


Oh, state of the hotel still annoys me! Is that ok?