MR PENDLE: Breathalyser tests are no human rights breach

And the man trumped that piece of arrant nonsense by saying shooting drink drivers at the roadside would be a more effective way of reducing the amount of drink driving than the current laws.

And he proceeded to match that piece of drivel by going on to say the breathalyser test was the equivalent of asking rail passengers to turn out their bags to see if they were carrying stolen property.

Now as someone who has been breathalysed twice over the years – and found to be negative on both occasions – Mr Pendle can say he never considered his human rights to have been violated when he was pulled over.

As someone with a good deal of respect for the police, he acknowledged they have a job to do.

They had obviously seen something in his driving manner that obliged them to stop him and subject him to a test.

Having passed the test, they allowed him to go on his way. End of.

No violation of human rights occurred, and Mr Pendle would not have thought of complaining to the Libertarian Alliance about what happened even if he had known it existed.

There may be a need for such a group, but too many people today think they should be allowed to do what they want, where they want and get away with it.

But laws such as the one relating to drink driving are there for a good reason, and calls for their repeal from whingeing protest groups should therefore be resisted.

THE controversial school closures due to the snows of late January saw those dreaded words health and safety surface once again.

In our part of the world, there were closures which were unavoidable as many schools were inaccessible.

But in other areas, Mr Pendle heard of schools being closed simply because playgrounds were icy.

What on earth is the world coming to?

It would never have happened when Mr Pendle was a boy.

Making slides on the ice was part of enjoying the winter weather.

If someone slipped and fell, everyone laughed, the victim got up and we carried on playing.

Not any of this “you must not do this in case ...” nonsense from po-faced pen pushing bureaucrats whose faces would probably crack if they attempted to smile.

Health and safety legislation is obviously necessary in some cases, but all too often it is used to highlight dangers where none exist or if they do, the chances of them occurring are about as likely as Mr Pendle going to the Moon for his next holiday.