DEVIZES drone company owner Dominic Cross is warning others about the safe use of drones as many do not know the laws.

The 46-year-old, of Hawk Street in Bromham, set up his aerial photography company Skyvr in January this year after spending more than 20 years working in the technology industry.

In that time he has worked for phone company EE and the BBC.

Now he is warning others about the safe use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, as many are being used unlawfully.

Mr Cross said: “The issue is people don’t realise the laws. It is a shame that it will take a death or serious incident from someone who is untrained using a drone near people for the laws to be changed.

“There is so much you can do with drones. They have many uses with agriculture and the emergency services, but the growth needs to be in the right way.”

The Civil Aviation Authority has released strict rules about flying drones, to make sure everybody is kept safe.

These include not flying a drone within 50 metres of members of the public, buildings and vehicles that are not under your control.

You need to stay clear of airports, not fly over congested areas and keep the drone in sight at all times and no more than 400ft above or 500m away from the pilot.

Mr Cross said: “The CAA grant licences to commercial users which is a six-month process costing several thousand pounds but anyone can just go and buy a drone.

"Recent videos online of drones flying over towns are completely illegal as it is a built-up area and the people and cars below are not under the pilot's control.

“I believe retailers should be licensed and users should have training to let them know what they can and cannot do.”

“The DJI Phantom is the most popular consumer drone but I would seriously urge owners to seek advice and training before using one.”

Drones such as the phantom are readily available with the latest model a Phantom 2 Vision Plus V3 costing £799.

Mr Cross is now in the process of setting up his own training school for non-commercial drone users.

He will also be giving talks to Wiltshire Police and other groups about the laws around drones.

He said: “People are free to contact me for advice at dom@skyvr.biz and the Skyvr website www.skyvr.biz has films that show what people can do with drones.”

For more information about the training school go to www.uavacademy.co.uk