We are being failed
Prosecuting the Little Guy: How underfunded public agencies misfire and wind-up impacting upon the very people they're supposed to protect.
A few months ago, I saw a headline that proclaimed - with smug satisfaction - that the Environment Agency had prosecuted a fisherman for fishing without a license.
The headline caught my eye because I too am a fisherman. I read further.
The man in question had been given a penalty of £443. That was made up of a £220 fine, £135 in court costs and - get this - a “victim surcharge” of £88.
Presumably, the victim here was the fish, since it is they that were caught by a license-less man. Quite what a fish is going to do with £88 I have no idea. Put it in the river bank? The truth, of course, is that this money, along with the fine, will go to further swell the coffers of the Environment Agency.
Now, before anyone suggests that the fishing license contributes towards the upkeep of the nation’s waterways, let me assure you that fishermen are among the very best custodians of our lakes, rivers and canals. The truth is that the Environment Agency has levied a stealth tax on the most popular participation sport in the country. And they continue to do so while turning a blind eye to the ongoing environmental catastrophe perpetrated on our rivers by water companies pumping thousands of tonnes of raw and untreated sewage into them.
Sadly, this willingness to pursue spurious cases against Joe Public whilst ignoring wider and more challenging issues is not confined to the Environment Agency. Our police force, once the envy of the civilised world, is equally guilty.
A 51-year old army veteran was arrested back in 2022 for reposting an online “meme” that showed the Pride flag rearranged to form a Swastika. He was told: “Someone has been caused anxiety based on your social media post. This is why you have been arrested.”
Now taking a swipe at the Pride flag is certainly nothing to be proud of. And any imagery involving a Swastika is undoubtedly unacceptable. But the man was arrested for posting a single image online. Meanwhile, the knife crime pandemic rages unabated, and balaclava-wearing, machete-wielding gangs roam the streets freely.
And then we come to the public service that is failing this industry of ours - The Health and Safety Executive. Just last week, the HSE was bragging about the prosecution of a 78-year old farmer who had taken one of his grandchildren for a ride in a tractor.
I’ll get to the safety element of that in just a moment. But like the Environment Agency levying a stealth tax against the pleasurable past-time of fishing, the HSE is effectively taxing a grandfather for doing precisely what countless generations of farmers (and grandfathers) have done for decades.
Show me a second, third or fourth generation demolition, construction or farming man or woman and I’ll show you someone that rode in a machine on the lap of their father or grandfather during their formative years.
That in itself is bad enough.
But that prosecution serves as a reminder of yet another public body pursuing the little man whilst being asleep at the wheel in its regulation of big business.
In just a few days’ time, two widows will once again mourn the loss of their husbands in a horrific incident on a demolition site in Redcar. Five years later, and the HSE has failed to deliver any meaningful findings, prosecute anyone, or offer any kind of explanation or closure.
At the time of writing this, it is eight years, six months and 12 days since the collapse of the boiler house at the Didcot A Power Station; an incident that cost the lives of four men. Just like Redcar, the families of those four men are still waiting for answers. There has been no prosecution because, presumably, the crack squad of HSE inspectors were too busy detaining elderly farmers.
In all three instances - the Environment Agency, the police and the HSE - these bodies are underfunded and understaffed. But that underfunding has had an unexpected and unwelcome side effect. It has rendered them largely toothless.
The few teeth they have left are insufficient to deal with big issues like widespread and deliberate pollution, machete gangs or major industrial accidents.
Instead, those few remaining teeth have turned to bite the very people these bodies are supposed to protect - The British public.
THIS ARTICLE IS BASED UPON A DEMOLITION NEWS VIDEO THAT YOU CAN VIEW HERE.