Can't do that - somebody might get hurt

[old man emu]

I mentioned recently that I live beside an large open area of council-owned land that is part of flood mitigation works. It is open to everyone to use, although no one has stuck up soccer goals posts, yet. Anyway, it's a pretty barren area that you really can't use in summer because of lack of shade. I figured that planting some trees that would grow with a wide spread of boughs and a lot of leaves would provide the needed shade and make the space a better place to relax. The trees could be planted about the place so their roots didn't go near the storm water drains.

 

I put the idea to my local Councilman whose response was, "Couldn't do that. Something might fall on somebody."

 

You could have knocked me over with a finch's feather. How much cotton wool do local Councils need to wrap around residents?

[Bruce Tuncks]

Thus does fear of litigation make idiots of us all...

[onetrack]

Lawyers run everything today. Every single thing you get involved with must have legalese and terrifying terms and clauses attached to it.

 

I buy stuff at auction fairly regularly. You've never seen lawyer BS until you get involved with an auction house. A slight dent in any panel of a vehicle means it must be described as, "impact damaged".

 

If a vehicle is unregistered, it can't be driven from the auction yard, even with a temporary movement permit. No, it must be removed by a tow truck or tilt tray, at more cost to the buyer.

 

You can't enter an auction yard unless you have signed a waiver absolving the auction house from anything happening to you in their yard. You have to sign in and wear full PPE and prove your ID.

 

You cannot operate any electrical item of equipment, in case you get electrocuted. Every electrical item of equipment, no matter how new, must have a warning attached that it is not to be connected to any power, in case it's faulty.

 

There are warning signs that some vehicles have manual transmissions, and this requires special training and driving skills, and you must present proof you can operate a manual transmission.

 

That's if you can actually start and drive the vehicle. 99% of them won't let you drive anything, it must only be started, and no more. It'd be a bloody joke, if it wasn't so depressing.