Across the pond

The wind was shaking ouc bungalow on Lyme Bay last night. I buried my head under the bed clothes to shut out the noise and left the inspection til just now. The gale made a mess of the excellent job our gardener had done on the fence yesterday, dislodging one of the new panels he had nailed into place. A chair had blown off the terrace but the table held its position, anchored by the rather large Bohemian glass ashtray. The dustbin lid has been carried away to we don’t know where.

I did a quick trawl of the web, but apparently no more containers have been blown off railway trains and the storm was expected to peak in the rush hour, which is now past.

But my brother, who has made a study of such matters, thinks it is bound to happen again unless the regulations are tightened up, of which they is no immediate prospect, to judge by the reply he has received from the chair of the House of Commons committee.

 Here it is in full.

MRS GWYNETH DUNWOODY MP.

HOUSE OF COMMONS

LONDON SW1A OAA

Tel: 020 7219 3490 Fax: 020 7219 6046

Peter Jones, Esq

4th March 2008

Dear Mr Jones

Thank you for your email of 3rd March 2008. I am grateful to you for keeping me up to date, but as I was caught up in the problems over the weekend, I am only too aware of the situation.

I understand your worries about the evidence that was presented and we do, of course, try to get as broad a cross section as possible to give us accurate information.

At the moment, we are not looking at the caravan/trailer points that you raise and I am afraid that we do not have sufficient trained staff which would enable us to undertake the sort of inquiries that would be of interest to you.

I have, however, noted your views and will make sure that we keep them on file for the next time we meet the Secretary of State and the Permanent Secretary to discuss them.

Yours sincere!

She is keeping his comments on file. Presumably it will not come to the top of the file until a container fals on top of a child watching the trains go by.

Writing this reminds me that today is my brother’s birthday and I forgot to post the card. Happy Birthday, Pete. Here’s wishing that Ms Dunwoody will have got off her backside before your next birthday.

For the full story the hazards of trailers on the railways and the roads visit my brother’s blog called Caravan Accidents.