After dropping off some people who intended to camp in the hills overlooking the A9, a van was stopped by an employee of Highland Spring.The employee parked his Land Rover in the middle of the road, preventing the van from leaving, and informed the driver that he would detain the van until police arrived.

A large number of police arrived quickly from nearby, along with a helicopter. The police searched for and detained some of the campers who had moved into a nearby field. The police informed the campers that Highland Spring, who owned the land on which they intended to camp, were concerned that people might attempt to contaminate the Highland Spring water supply.

The police were relaxed, explaining to the campers that they did not in fact suspect them of attempting to contaminate the water supply. However, they claimed that the campers and driver were 'associating with known drug users', and used this as a pretext to take names and addresses. They then gave the campers details of nearby public land on which they could camp and let them and the driver go on their way.