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MP Dunne wants Government to review Bucknell WI volunteers’ case
Monday 1st November 2010, 1:45PM GMT.
Banned - The Bucknell WI members at the railway station
South Shropshire WI volunteers who have been stopped from tending to a garden for health and safety reasons could find their case referred to the Government.
MP Philip Dunne wants the government to use the experience of Bucknell WI as part of a national review into health and safety red tape.
WI members have been told by Network Rail they cannot tend to the railway garden on a disused part of Bucknell Railway Station, near Craven Arms, until they carry out a risk assessment and obtain the necessary insurance.
Group members have been gardening on the site for the past 20 years without a single accident occurring but have now not been on the site for several weeks.
Now Mr Dunne, MP for Ludlow, wants to send their “case” to Lord Young at Westminster.
He hopes it will form part of his national “Common Sense, Common Safety” review into health and safety legislation and the problems it poses for such voluntary groups.
The MP said he was hoping to contact WI members to get them to document their experience to form a major part of Lord Young’s review.
He said Lord Young had been commissioned to carry out the work by Prime Minister David Cameron and added the Bucknell incident was a prime example of legislation clashing with community work.
He said: “I want the WI in Bucknell to give me chapter and verse on their situation so it can feed into Lord Young’s review into health and safety.
“He is specifically looking for examples of the regime leading to problems for voluntary groups, and this incident is certainly very timely.”
WI president Beryl Starr last week said the garden at the station on the Heart of Wales line had been a “source of pride” for the local community and the decision by Network Rail had come out of the blue.
Network Rail, however, said the company wanted to provide a “secure and safe” working area and added that it was only acting in the WI’s interests.
By Peter Kitchen
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I am really pleased that this is happening Red tape and little Hitlers are destroying this country so many have fought and died for.
I also hope the person at network rail is identified and put under some real work pressure to see if the action is legal and just, Or that they were trying to justify their position or make political gain?
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Whilst health and safety regulations have been taken too far in this country, I think your Hitler jibe is deeply insulting to his victims.
A rail company asking a group of gardeners to take out insurance is in no way comparable to the Holocaust, or have I mis-read some in this story?
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I think your Little jibe is deeply offensive to the people of this country who fall below the national average on height. I have a close friend who is of restricted growth. Yes, he happens to be called Adolf and yes he happens to work for 3M producing Scotch tape that happens to be red in colour, but that doesn’t mean he deserves to be blamed for the ills of this country.
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It does seem a bit petty, but, as I posted previously, Network Rail own the site, and are, by definition, responsible for anything that happens on it. Sadly, we live in an age of compensation where the slightest misfortune could result in a hefty claim. Were Mr. Dunne the owner, I wonder what his stance would be then. I know I would make sure I had eliminated any possibility of a compensation claim before allowing non authorised personnel to work on any property I owned.
I hope the issue can be resolved to the satisfaction of all involved, but do not expect Network to leave themselves open to litigation. Would you??.
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well done
(all one sided with NR)
so on a health and safety issue why dont network rail put up barriers on this crossing
it was on the agenda a few years ago to do so but never happened.
try crossing this line when the sun is shining you can not see the lights very easy
network rail dont want to know that.
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They’ve not been stopped from tending the garden, they’ve just been asked to carry out a risk assessment and get insurance sorted out. Perhaps Philip Dunne can share with us exactly why he feels this entirely reasonable request is such an appalling imposition. Colin (above) has it exactly right.
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If you live in someone else’s garden, you will need to follow their house rules. If you are not happy with the house rules, you’ll mve out. Simple as that. Why kick up a big fuss when the house does not even belong to you. Perhaps MP Philip Dunn has better things to worry about? This is extremely petty and it is only fair that the company that has a duty of care takes their responsibility seriously.
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Bucknell WI are looking at the world with rose-tinted glasses, they need accept that they can’t have the best of both worlds. If they want their gardens, they need to accept liabilities to look after their members’ safety. What would WI headquarter think of such irresponsible behaviour?
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I have to agree with “Shropshire girl” as she makes some really fair comments.
This whole article is RIDICULOUS – what a petty thing to argue over.
These comments made about Network Rail are really unfair. Ok so nothing has happened in the last 20 years but thats not to say it wont. Lets not tempt fate here. If soemthing did happen lets see the compensation claws comes out then shall we?! Network Rail seem to have best interests at heart so let not get head oer heels with making a mountain over a mole hill.
As Abbie stated they havnt been stopped from tendering to the garden so what is the problem!
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Well done to Mr Dunne for taking up this matter of great importance, I hope he will pursue his quarry relentlessly, recklessly and without thought to his personal safety or that even of others until we genteel mob have the satisfaction so long owed us.
The country will be a better place when we can get rid of H&S altogether. My ancestors gave their lives in cotton-mills and mines to make a few people richer and therefore Britain greater. They’d be turning in their tiny paupers graves if they imagined the hideous pain they went through in their dying moments mangled in machinery or coughing up blood from work related respiratory disease was sacrificed for the betterment of the lives of the general workforces of the future. No, if we want to compete with the third-world, we better start acting like them as soon as possible!
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Trains weigh around 2000 tonnes and takes 20 football pitches to stop, so it won’t matter even if it travels slow.
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