Recoding business meetings

A quick question for the legal monkeys;

Is it legal to record a business meeting with the intention of using the
recording as proof of liability in legal proceedings if the other
parties at said meeting are not aware they are being recorded?

Just asking, like.

 

Put some small print in the signing-in book for your attendees, stating,
"surveillance equipment is used on site for the purposes of crime
prevention, employee security and transaction monitoring". With any luck
they'll just sign in and you're sorted.

 

They have to be told, IIRC. If it's a phone conversation and they aren't
told beforehand that it might be recorded, there needs to be a beep every
few seconds. Of course, my boss records all the calls and tells no-one.

 

I recorded a conversation with a 'friend' who owed me a large sum of
money, & successfully used that recording as evidence when I took them
to court. Having said that, the 'friend' didn't bother turning up to
defend themselves once they saw a transcript, which was kind of what I
was hoping for.

However the recording was made without their knowledge, & the district
judge was happy for me to use it, so that implies the answer to your
question is yes, it is legal. But don't take my word for it.

I always understood the law was you can record conversations, as long as
at least one of the people being recorded knows about it.

 

Andrewr At Work left a note on my windscreen which said:

Aren't phone conversations covered in a different legislation or
something? This is regarding a face to face meeting.

On the subject of phone calls however AFAIK you are perfectly entitled
to record without the other party's consent provinding the recording is
'for personal use'. I guess this doesn't include soliciters but I
wouldn't be sure.

 

Rexx left a note on my windscreen which said:

With phonecalls I don;t think they need a beep now. And provinding they
are recorded without the intention of being presented to a 3rd party or
anyone who the information is not intended for I think it's all legit.

I don't know if this applies to 'in person' meetings or not, however.

 

That was my understanding - you can record your own conversation, as
you are obviously present, and there would therefore be no difference
between the recording and taking very quick shorthand.

However, the business world may be different, as call centres have
disclaimers, beeps, etc.

 

Preston Kemp left a note on my windscreen which said:

That's the sort of situation, yes. Ta!

 

<snip>

Recordings of telephone calls are perfectly admissible in court under UK
Law.
Dispute Management is by far and away the biggest reason companies are
investing in call recording technology [1].
The Financial Services Authority insist on companies recording calls where
transactions are taking place or financial advice is being given.

As for recording a meeting, I aggree with 'Dan White', if you tell someone
that surveillence equiptment is in use and they agree to it (but I'd bet,
legally speaking, they don't need to) then it then it will be perfectly
legal (and admissable in court)...
I would liken it to CCTV footage of the car park being used to prosecute a
car theif.

[1] I am not a 'legal monkey', as you put it, but I work for a company
delivering call recording.

__
Matt

 

And you would undoubtedly be laughed out of the small claims court. Despite
frequent appearances to the contrary, judges are not idiots.

You would probably be denied leave to appeal. You would then, for a 'small
claim', possibly realise belatedly that you would be throwing good money
after bad. OTOH, perhaps you're the sort of person who would happily
bankrupt yourself all the way to the ECHR on a swivel-eyed point of
principle. In which case there are thousands of lawyers who will cheerfully
relieve you of your money. Good luck!