A man holidaying in Gozo abruptly had his trip cut short after an altercation with a Planning Authority (PA) drone operator landed him with a summons to appear in court.

Ian Wallace, who was staying in a rented property in Xagħra, said he saw a low-flying drone while relaxing by the poolside with his partner.

The drone appeared to be filming its surroundings, he said.

Finding its presence uncomfortable, Wallace left the property to find the drone’s operator and saw a man controlling it a corner away.

Confronting the man, Wallace says the situation got tense when he expressed his discomfort with being filmed without consent.

“I honestly felt a bit disgusted. This was meant to be a relaxing weekend with my partner but it’s hard to relax when someone is flying a camera in your face. It’s an invasion of privacy, like you’re being spied upon,” Wallace told Times of Malta.

He says he was subsequently summoned by the Victoria police who informed him that he was being summoned to appear in court for obstructing a Planning Authority senior enforcement officer from performing his duties.

He had nothing that made him look like he was using the drone in an official capacity

“He never identified himself, he had nothing that made him look like he was using the drone in an official capacity, and things escalated quickly because I was just supposed to take his word for it,” Wallace said.

With a court date set in November, Wallace, who says he suffers from anxiety, added that he will be “wracked with nerves” until then.

A police spokesperson confirmed the altercation took place on August 27 in Triq Gajdoru in Xagħra, with officers called to the scene at 1.45pm.

No injuries were reported and police are still investigating the incident. A spokesperson for the Planning Authority declined to comment on the specifications of the incidents, saying it was now a “sub judice matter”.

The PA spokesperson said the drones were being used as part of a national project to upgrade the national base maps and that the Malta Air Traffic Services and Local Councils are informed of the drones’ intended flight paths.

Additionally, the spokesperson said the location of the drones was publicised on the authority’s Facebook page.

The data gathered would be anonymised before being published as part of the base map and private information would not be disclosed, the Planning Authority said.