NANNY STATE

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Holiday park staff have banned campers from putting up washing lines to dry their towels and clothes because they're a "health and safety hazard". The rule has been introduced at Sheerness Holiday Park, on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, even though there have never been any accidents caused by washing lines at the site. However, staff fear that the lines could cause guests to injure themselves. The site, run by Park Holidays UK, boasts hundreds of chalets, caravans, cottages and apartments but washing lines are no longer allowed anywhere on site.

Park manager Donna Hough said the ban was part of the site rules, which holidaymakers agree to abide by when they sign up. She said, "We are sorry if a few holiday home owners at the park feel inconvenienced by our washing line restrictions. The reasons for the limitation are twofold. Firstly, we are keen to maintain a neat and tidy appearance on our parks for the benefit of all holidaymakers and highly visible lines of washing are not consistent with this policy. The company says guests can pay to dry their clothes in its launderette. (Source: Daily Telegraph, May/09)

Pensioner Dick Sheppard has pulled the plug on the spectacular Christmas lights display he has arranged at his home for the last 17 years, blaming 'nanny' government legislation. Every Christmas since 1980 he has provided an amazing garden grotto, made of up of ten thousand bulbs and ninety animated dolls and animals. But after learning that to carry on the charity fundraising venture he would have to get a charity licence and spend a fortune on having the electrics tested to comply with new safety laws, he has put an end to the tradition.

Dick, of Stroud road, Gloucester, said, "This government is controlling everything we do, everything we say, every movement we make," said the former garage owner and vehicle stunt display team boss. They are taxing us and grinding us down in every way and this is just another example of how they are taking all the fun out of living." Dick said he realised last year, when the lights display raised £5,000 for charity, that it would be difficult to keep it going without a lot of extra time and expense. He said that as well as being beaten by Government legislation he has also found security a problem, partly because of lack of police interest in protecting his display and the donations it raises.

He said, "I had the donations stolen twice in the early years when the money was put in a bucket in the garden. Since then I have invented the wishing well with steel bands and chains around it to protect it and a surveillance camera pointing at it. But when I told the police about that they said not to even bother to bring the video in if someone steals the money because they won't be interested. Their advice was that you shouldn't put Christmas lights up in your garden because it invites vandalism! (Source: Daily Mail, Oct/07)

Firefighters racing on 999 calls have been told to silence their sirens and drive within the speed limit because they pose a health and safety risk. Fire chiefs say the crews can only use their flashing lights and break the speed limit if there is an “immediate” threat to life. As one experienced fireman based in Sheffield said, “Even if it seems to be a minor fire, you don’t know how serious it really is until you get there. If we have to wait up to half an hour in traffic, it could have spread.”

A colleague based in Barnsley added, “It is just barmy decision-making by pen-pushers who have no real knowledge of the job we do. Next, they will be telling the police that they can only use their sirens and drive fast if they are dealing with a murder, or forbidding ambulance drivers from going flashing their lights unless their patient is minutes away from death."

The guidelines, issued to stations across South Yorkshire, say call-outs like skip blazes or car fires on “dumping grounds” are examples of incidents when normal speeds and no sirens or lights should be used. Crews have also been told to obey all traffic regulations in these cases. (Source: Daily Express, Jun/07)

School children in Torrington, north Devon, have been banned from standing in a guard of honour at a town's annual May Fair celebrations, because it's too dangerous. In previous years all 200 children from Great Torrington's Bluecoat Infant and Nursery school have provided a guard of honour in the town square during the procession of the May Queen. But this year the town's May Fair committee and the head teachers of the infant and nursery school said there's a danger from crowding because a growing school population means there are too many children to fit in the square.

Instead the 260 pupils of the Great Torrington junior school will perform Maypole dancing in the town square and the infant and junior school pupils will now just take part in the service at the start of the celebrations and some will take part in a floral dance in the square. Infant school headteacher Mary Pearson said, "Our priority is the children's safety. We have done a risk assessment and felt it was no longer safe for all the children to fit in the square." (Source: Mail on Sunday, Apr/07)

At the Health and Safety Executive, employees have been banned from moving furniture on the remote chance that they might do themselves an injury. They are told to book a porter to complete the task, and allow two days for it to happen. If a porter cannot be summoned urgently staff would be left with the awkward choice of disobeying a direct order from the management or asking some of their guests to stand. Signs which read: ‘Do not lift tables or chairs without giving 48 hours notice to HSE management’, have been plastered across the walls in several meeting rooms.

The ruling was discovered by Labour peer Lord Berkeley. He noticed the signs when he attended a meeting at the London headquarters of the HSE, whose responsibilities include workers at nuclear plants, oil rigs and huge factories. The signs have been put up in almost all of the 31 HSE offices across the country, where 3,600 staff are employed. Incensed by what he considered to be "health and safety gone mad", Lord Berkeley raised the matter in the House of Lords, demanding in a parliamentary question to know why the HSE had put up the notices.

Lord Berkeley also criticised the HSE for sending home staff from a meeting he was attending after it had snowed. He said, "We were told we had to go home because there was an inch of snow on the ground outside. The buses and trains were still running. It’s just preposterous." In a written answer to Lord Berkeley, Lord McKenzie, a work and pensions minister, said, "Where furniture needs to be moved regularly, it is mounted on lockable wheels so that any staff can move it easily. For other cumbersome furniture, arrangements have been made with porters to move it safely. Signs have therefore been posted in some meeting rooms advising of this arrangement." (Source: Mail on Sunday, Apr/07)

Grandmother Suzanne Hansford was banned from taking photos of her four-year-old granddaughter as she took her first dip in a paddling pool. A park attendant on Southampton Common, Hants, told Mrs Hansford she could not take snaps of the family day out because of council regulations. Southampton City Council insists no photos are taken at its pools and leisure facilities due to fears paedophiles might obtain illicit snaps of young children.

It said exceptions could only be made for groups, such as Brownies or Cubs, and even then an application has to be made in writing to the council and parental permission sought from each child to be photographed. Mrs Hansford said, "Are we now to be denied having photographic memories of our children and grandchildren? There are thousands of law-abiding people out there, just trying to enjoy the summer and take happy family pictures. Why should we be penalised for the degenerates in our society?"

Paul Shearman, Southampton City Council's outdoor sports manager, said, "Health and safety is paramount in making each customer experience a positive one when visiting our pool. As a preventative safety and comfort measure we do run a policy of restricting the use of cameras, including camera phones. We would ask for understanding of this policy but do appreciate and accept that this may disappoint a minority of customers." (Source: Mail on Sunday, Aug/06)