Teens use technology to party in strangers' pools
Google Earth and Facebook spawn pool-crashing craze
Tech savvy teens are using Google Earth’s splendidly clear aerial shots of the UK to launch a summertime craze – pool crashing.
<Google Earth’s used to identify pool-equipped victims and then Facebook helps organise the crash
Teens begin by surfing Google Earth’s satellite images to find houses with swimming pools — or at least paddling pools. Once a target has been identified, sweaty swimmers then use Facebook to arrange an organised, but uninvited, pool-crash.
A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police has already told the Daily Mail that owners of swimming pools should be on their guard. The spokesman reminded any pre-pubescent readers already reaching for the Google Earth icon that “using someone else’s pool is trespassing and therefore illegal”.
Owners of several plush poolside properties have already returned home to find teenagers taking a dip in their man-made lakes or their spoor: beer cans, dog-ends and vomit floating atop their once crystal-clear pools.
Mobile phones, of course, seem to be an invaluable tool for a good pool-crash. Apparently, mobile numbers were doled out on Facebook for the organisers of one such event held earlier this week between midnight and 3am – well, it was a school night…
COMMENTS
Skinny Skipping
We used to call that "skinny skipping".
I spent the summer after university (mid-80's) painting houses and partying with friends in New Haven CT. We'd have a few beers after work then go drive up into the hills where everyone had a pool. We'd all strip down - guys & girls alike - sneak over the fence or under the hedge, and silently slip into the pool. After a couple splashes or three we'd high tail it back to the car and skip on to the next house.
We were only pulled over once by a suspicious cop. Good thing his flashlight beam never made it below our chests as we never bothered to pull on our pants between stops... good times...
The forest for the tree
Just do like in this Montreal suburb:
http://tinyurl.com/3l9ybf (Google Maps sat view)
Hide it in the crowd...
And yes our summer is only 3 months long, but the shorter it is, the more you appreciate it and want to enjoy it.
Simon of the North
@Scotland - outdoor pool...
Ah yes - Stonehaven (just outside Aberdeen) in the North East of Scotland has a lovely olympic size, art deco, open air swimming pool, filled with filtered north sea water:
http://www.stonehavenopenairpool.co.uk/
But it is heated... so not quite as bracing as a dip in the North Sea itself.
@scotland
Trespass or not Trespass in Scotland - the answer isn't straightforward. Go and have a look here for more information:
http://www.mountaineering-scotland.org.uk/news/trespass.html
Effectively there *are* trespass laws in Scotland (e.g. the Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865), and CJA 1994 as in England. Although the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 amended the T(S)A 1865 to allow a statutory right of access.
Uhmm...nobody has
mentioned Tasers. Just wait until there's about 30 of them in the pool, dip the Taser in and give it a 1 second blast.
I'm sure they won't be coming back.
Or if you're nicer and not so pissed off at the event you could just Taser one of the offending chaps and threaten the rest until they cleared off.
