Life in Soviet Britain: The dangers of picnics.

Want to sit in a field and eat a snack, well you need liability insurance.

There can be few things more sedate than a picnic.

But a council says they are so fraught with danger that organisers must take out insurance - of £5million.

Ian Blackwell was stunned when he received the ultimatum from Totnes Town Council, in Devon, after organising a picnic for the local community.

'It just seems ludicrous in a public field that's fenced off,' he said. 'We're not having a BBQ or music.

'It might be different if we were having fire juggling or bear baiting, but this is just a picnic.'
The worst that can happen is somebody's going to choke on a chicken bone or get stung by a wasp.'

The council claimed that as the organiser, Mr Blackwell would be responsible for any accidents or injuries and needed 'public liability insurance cover'.

The 63-year-old businessman said: 'And yet if we had a birthday party in the park and invited friends and family along, we're apparently not responsible for their actions.'

He rang up for a quote - but couldn't get one because the insurance company didn't see his picnic as a risk.

'They couldn't understand why people would want to insure a picnic,' he added. He has since paid £70 to obtain cover for the event.

Thus the attitude of whatever you do, whatever you plan, you need the permission of the state, need the correct forms signed. Fail to do so and you will be annoyed by the authorities, or worse threatened by a non job PCSO fuckwit.

Want to organise something, you need insurance, need permission, need to sign a council form, need to register on a register.

This is the direct result of 12 years of communist New Labour misrule.

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