A hobby that is now being stopped by bueracy

As many people know, I have a keen interest in the day by day operations of the UK Fire and Rescue Service. I spend alot of my free time travelling the UK to visit fire stations with a group of other like minded people. Many of these visit are either officially organised visits through 'The Fire Brigade Society' or private visits when the visiting season has stopped. 
In this day and age, visiting fire stations to photograph appliances is getting too political in regards to photographing appliances with their registration numbers on.  This also the case with requesting from Fire and Rescue Services through Freedom of Information requests for fleetlists.   Fire and Rescue Services are point blankly refusing the requests by playing the 'in the interests of National Security' This is, in my opinion an absolute drawback in the history of fire appliances of the UK.  FRS must understand that if they continue in playing the 'National Security' card, then the peoples perception of the fire service is that they are not interested.
For instances on a arranged visit last year to a local North East Fire service (who will remain anonymous), we had a Station Manager (SM) who came around with us to pull the fire appliances out. I'd made a fleetlist for some of the members so they knew what was across the stations that we were visiting.  The SM was keen to see the list as he wasn't sure himself on what was where.  He even picked out his car that was on the list.
On every station that we went to I told him the history of that appliance by where it was based at before it had come to being there.
At our last station which was, he was speaking to the duty crew and had said to them in a conversation 'that lad over there amazes me, he knows where every single appliance was based at before'
Its a pity  that more and more Station Managers, Middle Managers, Senior Managers are not helpful in requests in the history of what was 'the British Fire Service'
Compared to another visit that was in the Yorkshire area we were told that we could not publish any photos. Any one found publishing them would be prosecuted. 

I'm hearing more and more about Fire Services stopping people visiting to photograph fire appliances. On a recent visit by a member he had rules laid down to him even before he got to the station to photograph and the registrations were blanked over.
It amazes me that this same FRS, holds its annual gala day at their Headquarters and the registrations are on show, but if you were to visit privately then you get told to not publish any photos, all registrations will be covered.  
Ridiculous it may sound but there are some over the top, pen pushing, tick in the box Station Managers who are going down this route.

What would stop anyone sitting outside a fire station to catch the appliance with the registration uncovered?     Nothing

FRS need to engage with the community more.  What the public don't know is that Community Fire Stations are now not Community Fire Stations as to be start charging for using the meeting rooms.


Will this stop the fire service going down the privatisation route?