For a few hours around midnight last Wednesday, Cricket Australia projected an image onto the Big Ben clock tower which contained the message “Don’t forget to pack the urn”, referring to the forthcoming Ashes series in Australia. (It was a clear allusion to the English Cricket Board’s projection in 2008 of a similar image onto Sydney Harbour Bridge.)
Now the Westminster City Council is considering legal action. But on what basis?
Westminster Council’s deputy leader, Robert Davis, told The Guardian: “The Palace of Westminster is part of a Unesco world heritage site, and it’s both inappropriate and insulting for this important location and its buildings to effectively be abused in this manner. It’s also a criminal offence.
“If an organisation wishes to display advertising on it, or any other building in Westminster for that matter, they should apply through the normal channels like any right-minded person with respect for the law.
An administrative fine is one thing, but any civil action (in trespass, or perhaps conversion) would surely fail — what’s the interference or appropriation?
