Banned wagon
A weekly survey of the things our rulers want to prohibit
THE engineering bore who tells his children 'What you want to do is get yourself a trade, my son' is guilty of giving poor advice. What he should be saying is, 'Get yourself into insurance.' The government has engineered an astonishing work-creation scheme for the large insurance companies at the expense of small companies that manufacture model trains and traction engines.
Two weeks ago the European Pressure Equipment Directive came into effect, ostensibly to reduce the hazards posed by exploding boilers. No one is claiming that badly made boilers do not present a grave danger — they took the lives of many an early railway pioneer. But it is the manner in which the safety measure has been incorporated into UK law that astounds. New Labour really does appear to believe that entrepreneurs have pockets of such depth that they can be picked at whim.
Under the directive, all companies which manufacture boilers will be obliged to nominate a 'notified body' — in practice, one of several insurance companies which have been licensed for the task — which will then have the power to conduct an initial inspection costing several thousand pounds, and unlimited follow-up inspections costing the company £700 per day.
Large engineering firms will be able to absorb the costs, but for the likes of Ian Stock, whose Carmarthen-based company Dragon Boilers Ltd makes copper boilers for model railway enthusiasts, it could spell ruin. 'There is no limit to how often the notified body could come and inspect me,' he says. 'Any time it can say to itself, "We're short of money, let's make a trip to Dragon Boilers."' While insurers have a field day, there is little in it for the public. None of Mr Stock's models has ever exploded, and nor are any ever likely to. 'People have tried to explode copper boilers, but they can't,' he says. 'Steel boilers can explode because kinetic energy builds up in them, but that can't happen with copper boilers. They might open a seam; otherwise they just go into funny shapes.'
Ross Clark
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