AM I wrong in thinking we have become blinded by bureaucracy and good old-fashioned commonsense has largely gone out of the window?

Normally, if someone falls at a bus or train station, the staff would be the first on hand to help. They’d be not only reassuring and caring but probably also have a quick response system to get medical aid if necessary.

Apparently not. When an elderly woman fell backwards on an escalator at Leeds train station it was fellow passengers not staff who rushed to her aid. In fact, according to one passenger, the staff not only didn’t help but claimed they weren’t allowed to because they weren’t ‘people-handling trained.’

Under other circumstances, you’d put this down to a misunderstanding, but in this day and age, this sounds like firm policy. Even the head of operations for the Health and Safety Executive criticised this case, pointing out that there is nothing in the Health and Safety at Work Act preventing people from offering assistance to others in distress.

Sadly, many places in the public domain now seem to have lost all sense of proportion when it comes to dealing with emergency situations. You can only suspect they are so frightened of being sued for some perceived minor error in what they do that they’ve decided not to help at all.

It’s just another example of people sticking to some ridiculous PC approach  rather than using their basic instincts and sense of human caring to step in and help.

In most circumstances, people are kind and will automatically assist someone when something unforeseen happens. It’s what makes people decent human beings, and I’m convinced there are more of those around than the uncaring, mindless other lot who often make the headlines.

Unfortunately, there are now many areas where people have to think twice before doing what comes naturally. If a child is standing alone, looking lost or even crying, while many adults would naturally try to help  some would understandably be wary because of the way society now expects adults of both sexes to treat unaccompanied children.

However, when another adult, especially one frail or vulnerable or both, is injured or distressed then there is nothing wrong with going to their aid - whatever some inhuman, in-house ‘code of conduct’ says.