Day: October 23, 2007

A bonfire celebration in York, the home town of Guy Fawkes, has been banned on health and safety grounds, the local council said on Tuesday.

Thousands were due to attend the spectacle on the 402nd anniversary of Fawkes' failed plot to blow up parliament but York City Football Club was told their ground was too small to ensure spectator safety, a decision which left the head of the cathedral city's tourist board “lost for words.”

York Council's head of licensing, Dick Haswell, declined to be interviewed on Tuesday but in an emailed statement he defended the decision, saying it was made on health and safety grounds.

“Because the football club was proposing to hold a firework display in a certified sports ground, legally, they had to apply to York's Safety at Sports Advisory Group for a Special Safety Certificate,” he said.

“Unfortunately the ground was not large enough to provide the necessary distance between the area where fireworks could fall and spectators.”

The chief executive of York Tourism Board, Gillian Crudass, said she was “lost for words” at the council's decision.

“We are very much disappointed because it is a British tradition,” she told Reuters. “It attracts a lot of interest not just from local people, but also from visitors from all around the country who come for a short break — as well as international interest.”

A spokesman for the football club declined to comment.

Guy Fawkes was born in April 1570 in Stonegate, York and was in charge of executing the Roman Catholic plot to blow up parliament and the protestant King James 1 during the state opening of parliament on November 5, 1605. The plot was uncovered at the last minute and Fawkes was caught and executed early in 1606.

Health & Safety has gone way beyond insane in this country. It's at the point where emergency services are told not to go into dangerous situations or perform acts that could jeopardize their safety. When you're a cop or a fireman, that's most of your job description… Especially for the firemen, who need to be trained on how to use a reclining chair for their rest-but-not-sleep^† periods and even moreso for the policemen who need to be trained on the proper way to ride a bicycle^‡.

Holiday light displays will probably be greatly reduced this year. Crippling insurance costs and absurd safety requirements mean many local authorities have abandoned their traditional lighting displays. Health & Safety insist that displays must be put up using specialized hydraulic equipment (not ladders, perish the thought!). Every surface to which a light is attached must undergo a rigorous 'pull-test' to make sure it is strong enough to hold a cable. Many councils have also been ordered to use a pressure gauge to test every bolt (!!!)which holds a cable or light fitting to a wall. Source: Daily Mail

I mean, for fuck's sake… Give common sense a chance?

^†The men and women of the Greater Manchester fire service have been told they can only rest in prescribed reclining chairs – and only after they have been trained to use them. Three experienced firemen are facing disciplinary action over “involvement in the use of unauthorised rest facilities”. They defied their orders to rest only on the £400 reclining chairs, which were installed as a replacements for beds in Greater Manchester's 41 fire stations last year. They are accused of breaking regulations by deciding it was more comfortable to use their own sleeping bags and bed down on the floor. Source: Daily Mail

^‡Police constables and community support officers who have less than a year's experience of patrolling on bikes have been told by the health and safety bosses at Greater Manchester Police that they must walk or use cars until a safety review is carried out because it was felt that that officers who have patrolled on bikes for less than 12 months did not have sufficient experience and road awareness to continue to ride. Source: Telegraph