When I did the business case for this business 5 years ago the biggest risk I identified was government intervention. Guess what I was absolutely correct. I hadn’t identified what would happen but it was clear 5 years ago with the way things were heading with the nanny state that they would hit us some how.
Just bear in mind that at the moment in this area (and possibly others) the Health and Safety departments (including fire service enforcement) are almost held in ridicule (which is wrong as the fire service does a magnificent job and society is in their debt). For instance when guests visit our neighbours B&B and see the fire escape (‘for their safety’) and are told why it is there they are initially incredulous and then bemused – Why?. Ah but you say – they won’t be laughing when they want to use it when there is a fire. Absolutely correct. The problem is that the probability of a fire there is so low it is superfluous and over the top. This is just one example of the madness of our current health and safety philosophy that brings the whole serious business into disrepute.
I would like to point out that most of us B&B owners are not money grabbing mercenaries as some of you have suggested. For instance we rented our rooms out to enable us to afford to live in a beautiful part of the country. Along with our other business we work 7 days a week 364 days a year (we have Xmas day off) and usually work 12-14 hours a day. Our income last year put us on about £5 per hour (less than we pay our cleaners). We don’t get a state pension, we don’t get sick leave, we don’t get maternity leave, we don’t get 3,4,5 weeks paid holiday a year, in fact the last time I had more than a day off (Xmas day) was 6 years ago. We are not asking for sympathy, it is our choice. I am just stating facts. We use to enjoy running our B&B even if the profits were small. In return people use to love coming here.
Who will volunteer to take e-mails from all the guests we are now turning away. I am sure most of them would be quite glad to give you their thoughts on the matter. At the moment I am giving them the e-mail addresses of the Fire Safety Minister and the DCLG Fire Safety Policy Team and suggesting they pass on the same comments as they are giving me.
If you believe that people will pay an extra £10 a night for a small B&B that has all the required fire precautions against one that doesn’t, you don’t understand the British public.
As I am obviously getting no further with this one-sided argument and the Law is the Law and we will be following it (by closing), this will be my last post. I think it is just such a shame that a part of our society will be lost over the next few years due to over zealous rules and regulations (not just fire). It’s a sad indictment of society in general and the path we seem to have trod over the last few years.
I am grateful to all of you for an insight into your world (its not a world I wish to live in but that, at the moment, is my choice). I hope I have given you a small understanding of my world. My feeling is that the level of health and safety in ‘this country’ has now gone too far (for society at the moment) and there is likely to be a significance backlash in the coming years. I may be wrong. I just hope for my sanity, others in small businesses and the next generation’s sanity that I am not. People in the Health and Safety Industry seem to have forgotten that we humans have been managing Risk at an individual level for 0000’s of years. We may need help here and there, and there are things that have been introduced over the years that have saved a lot of our lives (seat belts in cars, better fire retardant furniture etc). Tinkering at the edges as we seem to be doing at the moment is just damaging our society not saving any major number of lives. What are the big killers? Let’s address them better. The problem is, do we have the political will to do so? Tinkering at the edges has little or no political fall-out but makes governments look as though they are doing something. Resolving the big issues comes with big political headaches and is therefore put to one side.
Please note that all my comments have been about small B&B’s. That is homes that have less than three letting rooms (which were exempt under the old rules).
My final heart felt plea is - Please let us run our own lives but be there when we need you (a contradiction which I am sure you will all ridicule).
Bye and thank you again for this insight.
