The BBC’s Health and Safety precautions have sent the Daily Mail skidding out of control. News that BBC Radio Essex needed paramedics on hand when changing a tyre caused the paper to go into apoplexy.
Two presenters from the station were seeing who could change a tyre quickest as part of the BBC’s Big Skill initiative. After receiving instructions from a qualified mechanic, Graham Bannerman and Christine Penhall were timed to see who could change the tyre quickest as part of the broadcast.
But bosses at the BBC ruled that medical staff had to be in attendance in case the pair suffered any mishap as they were dealing with 'unfamiliar equipment'.
Caroline Lake, the qualified mechanic who oversaw the task, told the Mail: 'All we were doing was taking off a couple off wheels. Yet we had to have medical experts there in case something went wrong. It was just barmy and so silly.'
A BBC spokesman said: 'As a basic precaution a couple of voluntary St John Ambulance first-aiders were just on stand-by to administer any basic first aid requirements.'
News of the the incident came as John Simpson hit out at the health and safety risk assessment form 'the size of a telephone directory' for his latest BBC series. The veteran journalist, who has reported from some of the world's most dangerous places, described the document as 'nonsense'.
