Here we go. The offical view of the situation.
Thank you for your email.
I should give a prize to vintage ATCO for being spot on and directing others to the Radiocommunications Agency website (www.radio.gov.uk) RA169 regarding the use of radio scanners and the law in the UK.
In short you can use a scanner to listen to anything broadcast for general reception, radio amateurs, CB, weather and navigation broadcasts. Unless you are a police officer or work in the emergency services you are not allowed to listen to their communications. You can only listen to other services if you have the permission of the sender. The air show is a good example where the control tower frequencies are publicised and that would be considered permission.
Regards
So there you have it.
P.S. Steve, your' prize is in the post....
