Bureaucrats lack of thought (From Harrow Times)

Bureaucrats lack of thought

12:17pm Thursday 21st August 2003

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Bureaucrats often complain that the public they are paid to serve does not appreciate them and that they do not deserve the opprobrium heaped upon them for "just doing their jobs".

But the actions of some must occasionally make even the most jobsworth penpusher despair. The blind following of "normal procedure" without any thought for the effects on the individual at the receiving end sometimes goes well beyond what can be justified by doing one's job.

Such is the case of Hilda Mason, who, for committing the heinous crime of feeding the birds that she loves in her back garden, has felt the might of Harrow Council's environmental watchdogs crashing down on her.

As we report on the front page, one or more of Mrs Mason's neighbours had complained to the council that her activities were attracting not only an unacceptable number of birds, but also creatures considered vermin, such as rats and foxes.

There may have been good cause for the complaint, but the council's reaction was totally unjustifiable. It seems that no effort was made to investigate the claim. Instead, a stock letter, which assumed she was guilty as charged, standing a basic tenet of English justice on its head, was fired off.

Mrs Mason, it declared, must desist from indulging in what she described as her last remaining hobby. She was warned that if council officers spotted her feeding birds, "formal action" would be taken.

Many people receiving such a letter would have forcefully told the council what to do with it.

But it has caused Mrs Mason profound distress. For someone of her generation, who has never before been threatened with the law, the threat must have been devastating.

She is obeying the diktat, not from a sense of duty, but fear she is being watched and will suffer unspecified consequences, including imprisonment.

Simple justice demands that someone should have checked that the complaint was true. If it was, simple courtesy demands that a personal approach should have been made to Mrs Mason.

An elderly lady has been treated appallingly. It may not justify heads rolling, but they should be hanging in shame.

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