American tourist causes security scare by flying drone over Windsor Castle

The drone was up for nearly ten minutes before the police arrived

An American tourist caused a security scare after he flew a drone close to Windsor Castle, on a day when the Queen was in residence.

The man was using his remote controlled drone aircraft to make a video and had it positioned high in the air, hovering near the walls of the royal residence.

Police dealt with the issue by giving the man a 'ticking off', but no further action was taken.

"He wanted aerial video to put on YouTube. But he was told to destroy the footage. The drone was huge, about 3ft long," said a witness, according to The Sun.

According to another witness: "The drone was flown close to the wall and it was up for nearly ten minutes before the police arrived.

"They just wanted to put some exciting video on the internet. They were unaware they’d done anything wrong, but it was a foolish thing to do."

Personal drone aircraft have come in for criticism recently - Robert Knowles, of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, was convicted of breaching article 167 of the Air Navigation Order 2009 after flying his drone above a yard building nuclear submarines.

The article bans anyone from flying small, unmanned surveillance craft within 50 metres of a structure not owned by them.