Mum's police check for school run

In the "I can't believe they're that bonkers" department comes a letter of the law edict from Merthyr Council in South Wales. It is becoming self-evident that local councils up and down the country are shelving common sense and acting as craven stooges to the whims and fancies of the New Labour regime.

Jayne Jones, of Aberfan near Merthyr Tydfil, used to travel with her son Alex, 14, in the council-provided taxi when she feared he may have a fit. Because it is provided by the council, she is seen as an "adult acting as an escort who could be viewed as acting with the full acquiescence of the council and hence with its implied authority". So they are insisting she must stop going with him until she has undergone a Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) check. What moronic thinking is this? Of course the official couldn't comment when asked. It is all too absurd even to dream up a reply that would be deemed sane enough. Are we all to be examined in this way if we find ourselves in a similar situation? And what of Alex? Is he now to be left to travel alone, or is some caring soul from the council going to be brought in at great expense to act as a convenient chaperone?

So the foolish council insist on her getting checked in case some person in the street, who thinks suddenly that they have seen a potential molester in a cab (which they may or may not know is contracted out to Merthyr Council) and that alarm bells should be sounded at the first opportunity.

It is outrageous and we need to stop these stasi-like control freaks before they ruin the country.