Police in Exeter yesterday spent 40 minutes questioning and checking the bona fides of Irish journalists who were covering the meeting between the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister. Staff in a shop apparently contacted the police after this correspondent and Mark Costigan of Today FM went there to ask for the phone number of Bristol police.
We wanted to inquire what was happening after seeing a bomb-disposal van travelling at speed with its siren flashing. Police told us we had been tracked by security cameras to a coffee shop in a department store. There, three uniformed police asked to talk to us.
They took our names, addresses, dates of birth and details of our employers. The journalists were asked to remain in the coffee shop until the police checked our details. After 40 minutes, they left, apologising for the inconvenience.