More and more photographers are being wrongly prevented from taking pictures in public places by police who do not understand the law, according to a photography trade body.

The Bureau of Freelance Photographers (BFP) said it had seen an increase in reports of police acting outside their powers in the past 12 months – and expected a further rise in 2008.

In the latest case officers escorted a member of a local photographic society away from a ceremony to switch on Christmas lights in a town centre after wrongly telling him that he needed a “licence” to take pictures of the scene.