Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Doncha just love authority?
Cheltenham Borough Council have banned the planting of pansies in town centre flowerbeds for fear gardeners would hurt their wrists if they caught their trowels on tree roots whilst digging holes for the plants.
Meanwhile, Tewkesbury Council have banned paper napkins being delivered with food by their Meals-on-wheels services in case their elderly customers mistake them for an item of food and try to eat them.
Another barmey law (probably to do with the EU, but who knows?) insists that if a farmer moves a goat from one field to another, he is obliged to obey the instructions laid down in the forty five paged 'Sheep and Goats (Wales) Order 2006". This dictates that the goat must not be moved unless it has an ear tage in place and that the tag number is recorded in two separate documents: the farmer's own tag register and the movement document that accompanies the animal we o'er it travels.
A Manchester car-thief was given an ASBO forbidding him from walking or cycling anywhere within the city unless he was accompanied by his sister. The ASBO did not ban him from driving or stealing cars.
And finally, back in Wales, a food company has been threatend with legal action unless it makes clear that it's sausages do not include real dragons. Trading Standards officers in Powys want the word pork put onto the packet (isn't it in the list of ingredients?). Apparently, the Trading Standards offices in Powys do not realise that dragons are not real but are concerned that people will be misled and believe they are eating real dragon whilst consuming 'Red Dragon Sausages'.
