Absolutely true, however people are petrified of the Data Protection Act and large organisations such as Health Authorities and British Airways are instructing staff not to rummage through personal details "in case we later get into litigation!"

The Data Protection Act in itself is a huge obstacle to those of us who lead normal, decent lives with nothing to hide. Indeed, my own personal opinion is that it was introduced to assist those MP's who wanted to have sordid little affairs with impunity! I couldn't give a flying fig whether my bank discloses information to my wife, or if Vodafone send her a copy of my itemised phone bill.

Unfortunately, common-sense goes out the window. I would like to think, because British Airways is giving me first-class training to handle most First-Aid encounters, that I would stop and help anyone in trouble......yet, I can't help remembering the anecdotal story of the West Country truck driver who stopped to help a motorcyclist who had come off his bike which was on fire. The first thing he did was to drag the motorbike away from the burning bike before the fuel tank exploded. A few months later, lengthy and costly litigation ensued between the driver's employer and one of these "where there's blame, there's a claim" firms trying to blame the driver for the fact the biker's broken leg had set badly! Because the biker would have been killed without Mr Trucker's help, common-sense prevailed in the end but at a huge cost and a lot of personal stress and grief for the poor, good-hearted lorry driver!

The whole world is going crazy IMO.

..........but I strongly recommend the "ICE" entry to try to stay ahead of the game!