Talk about thick as pigshit in this BBC article :
Concern over a “temperamental” bollard has lead to the cancellation of a pancake race in County Durham.
Bishop Auckland was due to host the event on Fore Bondgate but it was called off on the advice of police, who raised safety concerns.
It was feared that the rising bollard would fail, allowing traffic onto the street while the race was taking place.
Organiser Durham County Council said it hoped to provide back-up measures in future so the event could take place.
…
Durham Police said in a statement: “The last thing we want to do is prevent events of this nature taking place as they are good for the area, however, we have to be certain road safety is not compromised.
“The security of the bollard is in question and, as the organiser of the event has failed to put countermeasures into place, we cannot support it on road safety grounds.”
Peter McDowell, business service manager at Durham County Council, said: “The bollard can be temperamental and road safety advice from the police indicated concerns about its operation and the safety of pedestrians taking part in the race.
And a picture of said bollard :
So, we have a pedestrian area which will already have the appropriate vehicle prohibition by-laws in place so why not just stand a guy there for an hour or two dressed in regulation high-viz nanny wear safety wear and get on with it?
Hardly imaginative but, then again, it wouldn’t require a series of meetings to discuss the stack of risk assessments, permissions, pleadings and gender equality consultations.
If getting one of the binmen to stand there won’t do it, then how about making this a Big Society initiative by slipping a few quid to pay the local shroud wavers (in high-viz shrouds of course) to stand their to wave, whinge and complain about cuts to some problem that only exists because they get government funding to campaign about it.
I wonder how much the council and police will spend on their “future back-up measures”?
You can be sure as hell that it will not be cheap and will not be even remotely sensible.
Ah well, welcome to Bankrupt Britan where they can’t even organise a toss in an alleyway.
So- the Council are aware that the bollard is ‘temperamental’, might fail, and put pedestrians at risk by admitting traffic into a PEDESTRIAN zone – but haven’t done anything about it.
Ummm- good H&S assessment for Pancake Day – epic fail rest of the week/ month/ whatever.
Mjolinir – Yes the council seem to have been slack here but why they just didn’t deal with it to allow the event to go ahead is beyond me. It’s hardly as if they were going to go tossing pancakes down a motorway. More likely, they have not got the balls to tell the police – yes, your advice is duly noted but we are proceeding anyway.