Posted on 01/21/2003 6:14:33 PM PST by steplock
EU give swings the push
A VILLAGE had to get rid of its playground swings because Euro rules say they are too TALL.
The three swings were erected more than 25 years ago.
Kids playing on them have suffered nothing worse than a grazed knee ever since.
But now Brussels bureaucrats have introduced a new maximum height order for swings throughout the UK.
The EU edict, European Standard BS EN 11 76, states the height of children’s swings must be no more than three metres (9ft 10ins).
The set at the park in Great Somerford, Wilts, are 60cm (2ft) over the limit.
The directive also includes a mind-boggling set of other rules including the distance from the seats to the frame and to the ground.
The Great Somerford swings were condemned during a routine inspection by playground equipment firm Wicksteed Leisure last month.
Now the seats have been removed to stop kids using the swings and a notice has gone up explaining why.
It has left Sarah Beeby, 11, Hannah Lonford-Brown, ten, and Luke Whitmarsh and Jacob Botterill, both five, bitterly disappointed.
Little Luke said: “It’s very sad. The park’s not exciting any more.”
The EU standard is NOT law, but failing to comply could leave the parish council open to legal action if a child were injured.
The council is trying to raise £4,000 to get new swings. It can’t simply raise the ground around the exisiting frames because steps aren’t allowed in playgrounds either.
Chairman Toby Sturgis said: “These are barmy regulations.”
LOL - You're right. And of course the cutting operations would have to be conducted within a specially constructed negative pressure chamber with a decontamination unit and multiple airlocks to prevent the release of metal dusts to the atmosphere, and ensure that the soil and grass wasn't contaminated by metal particles. And then they would have to do a metallurgical study to ensure the structural integrity of the piping wasn't compromised by being cut. That £4,000 price tag is starting to look cheap...
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