All aboard. Ladies and gentlemen, thankyou for choosing to fly with our airline. The holiday mood quickly turned sour on one flight though when a tannoy announced hot drinks could not be taken through the gate when boarding the aircraft.
The reason? It is in contravention of health and safety regulations.
Passengers were taken aback. The Health and Safety Executive’s myth panel was quickly on the case, bringing a grounded reality to the tannoy statement.
It found that, contrary to the statement, occupational health and safety law does not prohibit passengers from carrying hot drinks past the boarding gate.
The safety myth busters also ascertained that the Civil Aviation Authority enforced legislation does not prohibit this practice.
The HSE panel concluded that there may be a number of legitimate reasons why either an airport operator or aircraft operator would not want to allow passengers to carry hot liquids past the boarding gate.
Even so, it would have been “helpful” had the announcement explained this rather than parking responsibility at the feet of health and safety legislation.
