More madness

Those of us who have children and cars will have used the car to take the children to some children's event - scouts camp maybe, swimming club, a chess tournament.  Many of us will have been asked by the Scout leader, club organiser or school whether we would help out by agreeing to pick up another child who lives on our route to the venue.  It happens all the time and most parents are happy to do it and glad when another parent agrees to pick their own child up to return the favour.  It's normal family life.

 

Not any more it isn't.  From next year if you are asked to pick up Mary Smith from the next street to your own and deliver her home when you collect your little Johnny from an after school panto rehearsal then if you haven't been CRB checked you'll be breaking the law.

 

This is sad news for organisations which provide activities for children, it's sad news for helpful parents who, precisely because they are helpful, are to be treated as perverts, and it's sad news for children whose own parents can't collect them.

 

However, on the bright side it's good news for perverts because CRB checks are only required if the activity organiser asks you to take another child - if a paedophile sidles up to a harassed dad and directly offers to collect little Damian after soccer then well, there's no problem and no CRB check required.

 

This new CRB requirement is vitally necessary because parents who are asked by a 3rd party (ie the activity organiser) to transport carless kids are, obviously, much more likely to be sexual predators than those who secretly whisper their obliging offers directly into parents' ears.