Councils waste millions on "topple tests" for gravestones

Tonight's Panorama features a report by Quentin Letts on health and safety May Contain Nuts. The theme of the documentary seems to be that amidst a plethora of absurd and onerous box ticking that constrain us going about our daily lives there has been a lack of focus on areas of genuinely high risk - such as construction sites.

The report includes the claim that Councils have wasted millions on "topple test" for gravestones. If the Council thinks it made fall over they put in wooden stakes - but this makes the situation more rather than less dangerous. Mavis Fields says the topple tests by Bassetlaw Council damaged the grave of her first husband and adds: "This cemetary is in a more dangerous state with all the stakes stuck out for people to topple over than it was."