Pity poor Mr Wheeler (
Ed - yeah, there's a joke in there somewhere...), who in an effort to do his bit, has regularly wheeled his waste to the local council tip in a wheelbarrow.
Not any more:
For eight years Andre Wheeler has used his wheelbarrow to take glass, cans, paper and garden waste to the nearby tip.
The walk helps the 61-year-old teacher keep fit as well as do his bit for the environment.
But now officials have decided that wheeling the barrow on to the village site is dangerous - and he must take his rubbish by car instead.
It sounds completely barmy, but it's our old friend, 'elf and safety, again:
Asked why Mr Wheeler has only now been barred from taking his barrow on to the site, after eight years of doing the same thing without incident, the spokesman said: 'Nationally, there have been a number of recent accidents at such sites involving vehicles and pedestrians. Leicestershire County Council takes the health and safety of both site users and staff extremely seriously.'
A little odd, because if it's anything like my tip, once there, you have to get out and unload the car anyway. So at some point,
all visitors are pedestrians!
It is the same at my local dump. I walked 40 minutes to the dump with some bottles and stuff in a rucksack, I thought I'd get some exercise, save the environment, etc.
ReplyDeleteI was confronted (it is the only word, really) by some unshaven lout who refused entry, saying I had to be in a car. It is bonkers. As you say, everyone gets out of their cars anyway, and has to cross lanes through which traffic is driving.
That is the arbitrariness of the State. Pious and sanctimonious about the environment on one hand, officiously petty and pedantic in reality.