7:10am Tuesday 10th February 2009
By Fran Bardsley
A farmer who helped villagers by clearing snow from roads was left seething after council road bosses told him to stop because he wasn’t qualified.
Christopher Lewis, who owns three farms in the Hinton Waldrist area, near Wantage, called Oxfordshire County Council’s highways department to tell them he had cleared roads around his village.
He then asked if there was anywhere else he could help, but he was not expecting to be met with confusion and concern over health and safety issues.
Mr Lewis said: “I was doing this out of the goodness of my heart. When I rang up and said ‘I’ve done this, what do you want me to do now?’ their response was ‘I beg your pardon, why are you doing this?’ “I wasn’t seeking payment, I wanted to make sure my own vehicle and my own family, including my daughter who is a GP, could get to the main road.”
In the past, Mr Lewis said local farmers were contracted to clear the roads in the event of snow, but it stopped several years ago.
The conditions on untreated minor roads in neighbouring villages had deteriorated as the cold snap bit, with the county council scaling back on the roads gritted and salted.
But council highways engineer Brian Short said: “In an ideal world we would be able to accept offers of help like this.
“However, health and safety regulations are such these days that we’d always need proof of full training and insurance before any offer could even be considered.
“I wish it were different, but that is the world we seem to live in nowadays.”
Heavy snow was expected last night and Mr Lewis said he fully intended to clear at least the Hinton Waldrist area himself.
He said: “Every large farmer in Oxfordshire has a snow plough and I expect a lot of them have their ploughs out for nothing.”
“We’ve got 400 cattle to feed. We will keep this area going and, knowing what I know now, I will probably then go and continue elsewhere.
“It’s just laughable. I think it is the biggest load of nonsense.”
Farm manager Nick Cobbold said: “We all know realistically that the council aren’t going to do it so we are doing it for the local community. It’s not as if it happens every year.”
Mike Shield, who lives in neighbouring Buckland, said: “I cannot believe he has been told off for clearing snow.
“The man has done a bloody good job and helped his community. We should be thanking him, not saying he was breaching health and safety.”
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/trade_directory/