25 firemen sent to rescue one seagull from 3ft deep pond (and then volunteer had to do it as 'elf and safety said it was too dangerous to enter the water)

• Emergency crews forced to watch as bird centre volunteers don waders and rescue bird from waist deep waters
• Rules prevented firefighters from risking their lives in the shallow pond
• Latest in a string of incidents in which health and safety rules have left 999 crews powerless during an emergency

By Tom Gardner

PUBLISHED: 08:16 GMT, 12 April 2012 | UPDATED: 14:18 GMT, 12 April 2012

It must have looked like a major catastrophe unfolding as 25 firefighters descended on the scene.

But this was no terrorist atrocity or terrible car crash – the five teams of emergency crews had been scrambled to rescue a stranded seagull from a three foot deep pond.

And matters became even more farcical when the emergency crews were rendered utterly powerless to act because health and safety rules prevented them from 'risking their lives' by venturing into the waist-deep waters.

Instead they watched helplessly as staff from a nearby wildlife centre pulled on his waders, paddled out to the stricken Herring Gull, and freed its foot from a plastic bag.
FULL STORY: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2128585/Group-25-firemen-ca...