Parade dispute (From Penarth Times)

Parade dispute

PENARTH'S Holiday Festival has been dealt a blow by a health and safety crackdown. New regulations have meant that only two floats were entered this year.

A Penarth Town Council spokesman has revealed it is now compulsory for float entrants to have insurance and MoT certificates.

This new ruling affects any festival events, such as Penarth's carnival parade held on July 20.

Ann Lampert, of Queen's Road Post Office, said they entered a float for the past 12 years, winning last year, but didn't enter this year because of the high cost of insurance. She told the Times: "It was very disappointing - there were only two floats."

Mrs Lampert suggested the council should consider cancelling the firework display and instead use the money to pay for all the entrants' float insurance.

But a council spokesperson explained each individual float had to be insured separately, and the council's insurance did not cover the floats, as this was classed as a private activity.

He said: "The council will be looking into other avenues for next year, and we will be contacting other carnivals to see if they had the same issues, and how they got round them".

Vicky Stockwell, landlady of The Cogan Hotel, together with her customers won the overall winner's trophy, in the float parade for their Mad Hatter's Tea party. They held raffles to raise money to dress their float, which cost around £200, and everyone contributed to their costumes.

She said the biggest problem was insurance, adding that they succeeded with their entry due to "a lot of goodwill".

Vicky said: "It was a good day but the lack of other floats was disappointing."