Cwmbran Health & Safety Gone Mad..

Why has health and safety gone mad?  Initially, there to protect workers it seems to have gone totally the other way now creating health hazards rather than improving them.  I'm talking about the new motorcycle barriers along the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal.

In July, I was full of praise for sealing the tolpath from Pontnewydd in Cwmbran up to Pontypool Wharf.  It made such a difference to the bike rides our family enjoy.  No more bumping along stoney paths or muddy routes. 

With August spent on holiday yesterday was the first chance I had to ride the tolpath in a month. What a nightmare!  I spent more time pushing my bike than riding it.  With barriers stopping you from cycling under bridges I found myself along with a numerous other users of the tolpath having to cross uncontrolled roads and negotiate steep steps with a bicycle all in the name of Health & Safety.  I'd love to know which numbskull came up with the idea to barricade these bridges.

Is there a secret agenda to help the law profession get more customers through the personal injury compensation scheme?  My family's supposedly enjoyable Sunday bike ride resulted in my daughter twisting an ankle, my husband damaging his bike and me tweaking my back.  I watched parents with pushchairs struggling up banks and across roads as they were unable to take the natural route under the bridge.  Joggers cursing as they struggled to get through the barrier so narrow even my daughter couldn't squeeze through.  I dread to think what happens when someone in a wheelchair or on a mobility scooter goes along the path.

For hundreds of years, generations of family's have enjoyed walking and cycling along the tolpath.  No more, with Health & Safety gone mad another peaceful family pursuit is curtailed.