A wife-carrying competition at this year's Faringdon Folly Fest has been cancelled because organisers didn't get health and safety permission in time.
In the unusual "sport", husbands carry their wives across a bumpy field to try and win their wife's weight in beer or sausages. Organisers of the annual music festival said they asked Faringdon House if they could use a field for the event several months in advance. But they only just got the all-clear three weeks ago, by which time it was too late to obtain the relevant health and safety permissions, insurance and carry out a risk assessment for the event.
They needed to ensure that the field to be used had been empty of cows for at least three weeks prior.
Folly Fest organiser Mel Lane said, "We applied months ago, but they didn't come back to us until it was too late. In international wife carrying, you don't need person insurance."
However, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have argued other factors might be at play. As part of their "putting the record straight" feature, they Tweeted, "Health and safety isn't the hurdle for this wife-carrying race. Local paperwork seems to be the issue."
