James May

I had to wear safety glass to drink an alcoholic drink once, but to be fair, it was on fire. James May Vineland, NJ USA

Link to this comment

I fear I'm having the wrong reaction to "James and Jeremy's Health and Safety Ruin of England". Empathic part of brain: What a pity that Mr. May and Mr. Clarkson are faced with such idiocy when they try to do relatively innocuous things for TV. It must make them very unhappy. Logistics and anthropology geek part: But that sounds like such an interesting show!!!

Link to this comment

I'd like to break a lance for not considering safety anymore. Or at least not in today's amounts. Enjoying life is all about experiencing a certain level of excitement. Volvo drivers in the '70's knew that, that's why they drove unsafely in the world's safest car of the day. Every mountaineer knows it, that's why they became mountaineers in the first place. Every kid in a roller coaster knows it. Every horrorfilm-fan knows it. Without it, living is senseless.

Link to this comment

I once visited the London 2012 Olympic Village and had to have a H&S briefing - the opening line was "It's common sense really....." There once was a time when that's what we relied upon.

Link to this comment

Health and safety is about preventing significant harm. It is not about spoiling people's fun, even if that means they want to engage in risky activities (so long as they don't endanger, other, innocent people). I'm afraid it is a combination of unenlightened management and OTT insurance company requirements that causes the problems.

Link to this comment

True story: those little waivers you sign at the dentist or the doctor are not designed to make you safe. Do you feel safer? Or do you wonder if those caring hands are really fumble fingers.....I'm beginning to understand where the U.S. gets its love of rules and regulations. Sounds like the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Link to this comment

The words "false security" echoe in my mind. Along with the name "Michael Moore".. Are we really following the American example, knowing it's only good for inducing fear? I hear you, James, and hopefully a government-person will, too.

Link to this comment

HERE, HERE!!! You missed the fact that they also stand in the way of any innovation!

Link to this comment

just a hunch but do you think they might be a little on the cautious side after watching Richard Hammonds in the Dragster?

Link to this comment

Why should I pay for TG magazine, when you publish most of it here anyway?? :(

Link to this comment

Sadly your TV show would never come to fruition, because the BBC is - in essence - a puppet of the government. They refused to broadcast a documentary about Tibet, claiming they wanted to "remain impartial and unbiased". If they said that about a matter that has no bearing on Britain, they're going to say that about a TV show designed to poop on a piece of Government legislation.

Link to this comment

Im glad the US doesnt have as many rules and regs as you guys do over in the UK. Sadly though, its probably just a matter of time.

Link to this comment

What James describes is unheard of in more "relaxed" countries like Greece, where I come from. Here, we always complain about our State's lack of organization and how things are done (if they ever are). But, it's in times like this, when one is happy about this. No H&S here. You can shoot whatever you like, in anyway you like, as long as you get a simple OK. If not you can always bribe...

Link to this comment

Oh dear, all the paperwork.. and for what ? Blowing up caravans, setting fire to anything you please and heluim baloons ? My word ! What has the world become !?

Link to this comment

..muppets...

Link to this comment

Think of all the H&S paper work you will have to fill in if you were to hang them from a lamppost.

Link to this comment

Too right, well said james - even more so than in the mag

Link to this comment

If I every own a warehouse or a factory I'm going to paint everything inside fluro orange and green just so everyone has to wear black or white safety vests.

Link to this comment

What ever happened to personal responsibility? If you are doing something stupid and crash, blow up, etc it's you own d$#n fault. You shouldn't be allowed to sue someone for your own stupidity. Let's make a law about that.

Link to this comment

I completely agree with everything James has said and everything Jeremy has or ever will say. I used to work for a builders merchants where I drove forklift trucks, before any lift could be made we had to do a risk assesment for how high the load was going, what angle it was going in at, how much the load weighed and how many people actually needed to be around the machine. This turned a 2 minute job into a 15 minute job. Fair enough people want us to be safe but why the hell do they have to make those things safer by making them either less fun or harder to do! H&S is a JOKE! If you agree to do something thats even remotely dangerous, if you hurt yourself its youre own fault, simple as!

Link to this comment

I think this is due to the SPP (Stupidity Protection Project). Politician have to do their best to protect stupid people for they are their best electoral basin. Hence, a driving license is granted to pretty anybody ('cause "mobility is a civil right") - thus clogging every road with masses of dangerous people - but they also flood us with safety regulations to prevent those same stupids from killing each other (unfortunately they still always find a way to kill us). Sadly, Darwin's selection doesn't work anymore as it used to. In the good old days of the cavemen, the stupid one just popped into the cavern without care and was eaten by the bear first. Today, he/she just blows a redlight and run over me (pedestrian/biker) with his/her SUV.

Link to this comment

@sonicboom: Yeah, but the question is which one. Waldorf & Stadtler or Fozzie?

Link to this comment

It's not about Health & Safety, for pity's sake; it's about huge American insurance companies doing anything in their power to stop themselves from being sued, or God forbid, having to pay out on a policy. I am a safety manager at a chemical plant owned by a US holding company and it's frustrating the lengths the Americans want us to go to to mitigate for possible stupidity of operators. The answer's simple; don't employ stupid operators. Common sense is'nt as common as it used to be, apparently....

Link to this comment

james may just rocks man he rules :)

Link to this comment

James & Jeremy are right on the button. here's my two cent's worth of it: health & safety and to some extent the entire government is run by a bunch of useless worthless humanoids who are taking on the job of ruining the lives of useful hard-working people just to satisfy & uplift their worthless egos, all while covering under a blanket of authority. insurance is just an worthless useless instrument to cover for the stupidity of a small percentage of the human populace in the face of common sense. James & Jeremy know what they're on about . . .

Link to this comment

James & Jeremy are right on the button. here's my two cent's worth of it: health & safety and to some extent the entire government is run by a bunch of useless worthless humanoids who are taking on the job of ruining the lives of useful hard-working people just to satisfy & uplift their worthless egos, all while covering under a blanket of authority. insurance is just an worthless useless instrument to cover for the stupidity of a small percentage of the human populace in the face of common sense. James & Jeremy know what they're on about . . .

Link to this comment

The trouble is that a large portion of the population seem to have lost all common sense and so in order to stop the mouth breathing morons from doing things so stupid a half retarded monkey would know better, the gov't steps in to try and stop them. Personally I think that it would be good if a lot more of the population from the shallow end of the gene pool ended up hit by busses or closing their genitals in car doors or whatever would cause them to stop passing on such obviously flawed DNA to probably even more flawed offspring.

Link to this comment

You're gonna like this??? I am an avid follower of TG / Clarky / Hammond and May and i could not agree with you, James, about H/S. I am a RETIRED H/S Manager. I took EARLY RETIREMENT due to H/S becoming more and more stupid!!! I was having to enforce things I knew were just plain stupid.When I first started with H/S I was doing some good preventing people from being exposed to UNNECESSARY risks just to do their jobs. Yes James you are right most things are common sense but unfortunately the law has not been able to define common sense or what is 'reasonable'. YES it has become a****e covering now purely and simply because of the current 'claim culture' started by the American who started it all by suing Ford, and now promoted by the 'no win no fee' leeches - claim for everything. Another annoying import from over the pond. The current trend is killing the spirit of adventure!!! Go to it James!!!

Link to this comment

Very well said James, health and safety is the complete *** of the world. So you cut yourself on a cushion because you weren't wearing full body protection, live with it and learn not to be so dam clumsy. I ignore it every time I can, I say we all just tell them to **** right off.

Link to this comment

When you see some of the muppets out there in cars or on the streets you suddenly realise why no-one seems to have any common sense (or indeed know what it is) in this H&S obsessed country of ours. Nonsense is much more common!

Link to this comment

Health and safety is rubbish! If people aren't smart enough to know when something is dumb or dangerous then that in pretty much every way is their look out. This is survival of the fittest at its most basic level. Health and safety is all about keeping those who aren't smart enough to survive alive and capable of breeding even more people who aren't capable of surviving, thus increasing the need for more health and safety. Just go to a shopping centre near you on a Saturday afternoon and you'll see what I mean

Link to this comment

I'm in the army and the Powers-That-Be have found a sensible solution for the weird, absurd and dangerous things we do on exercise: They have declared most Health-And-Safety codes void during exercises! Wonderful! Now we can abseil from helicopters and run around with loaded weapons to our hearts' delight. What happens when we have to cross a public road in Germany -while carrying 28 ATGM's- and their police find out, is a different story...

Link to this comment

Hello from México dot com: here I am FREE to drive my '73 vw Combi (automatic, 1,700 cc with 2 carbs) without ANY insurance nor safety belt (of no use in this rolling coffin, any how!) and that for the last 12 years...on streets or roads, off road & the beach. My previous automobile was a 1974 VW Safari (the VW Thing, a modern Kublewagen)for 21 years...no rollbar nor belts (no use either; it's another rolling coffin) no doors & the top ussualy down: both vehicles were & are used as my mobile shop for automotive assistance, in a daily basis. The pilot driver IS the SAFETY...the psycho handling the steering wheel, that is the potential accident! (I am my own mechanic, that is safety too!)

Link to this comment

What I'd like to know is: Are there any first world countries left out there that aren't socialist, won't tax me until your eyeballs explode, wouldn't frown on my gun collection, and above all, don't legislate every single thing? "Oh, won't someone PLEASE think of the children??!!?!1!!#1!?!" Honestly. I'd love to move. I'd be happy to learn a new language.

Link to this comment

yes, i know james, as an engineer and chief engineer for many years i can say that health and safety now gets in the way of actual work driving up the cost of actualy doing anything. there was a time when we had this thing called common sense, now we have countless droves of of H&S jobsworths. we now have so many stupid laws in this country we even have other laws to protect us from them.this country is the laughing stock of europe becuase of these left wing do-gooders. keep up the good work james and jeremy.

Link to this comment

im sorry to report, all further comments are band. it conflicts with chaper b-4 c paragraph 6 on page 12 of the 2009 heath and saftey guide of annoyingness: "why typing can cause actute reppetitive strain injury of the fingers." well ithink thats what it says, i havent read it obviously, i could get a paper cut!

Link to this comment

Dear James,health and safety is simply a device for lawyers to generate funds for themselves,just remember most of the guys in power eg; government are lawyers!Time for radicale rethink James perhaps you should stand as an Mp and help overturn these stupid laws.

Link to this comment

james allways comes up with what he calls a flaueless design and it then breaks....... am i right????

Link to this comment

To all, All this health and safety lark is ruining EVERYTHING!! I may only be 14 but my geography teacher is sick of it and everyone I asked is saying it is ruining pupils education and putting small firms like coach hire out of business. Thanks for reading

Link to this comment

The truth is - it's jobsworth's within organisations that make H&S a farce. In fact all the law says is you have to assess risks and reduce them to an acceptable level. It doesn't actually say you CAN't take risks, or have to make everything totally safe. As long as the people at risk assess it and accept the risks, you can do whatever you want.

Link to this comment

Health and safety, despite it being an arse ache like you said when they make you fill out all those long convoluted forms before you can do anything is unfortunately a necessary evil now. I mean consider this, in the days before the Health & Safety Act 1974 people in dangerous jobs like in the building industry, manufacturing industries, etc., were losing arms, legs, fingers and the bosses didn't care nor did they pay them anything because they had no rights whatsoever to claim anything for their families if they got laid up and out of work. I do agree with you that it has gone a bit more bonkers now but it's not really worth getting in a worked up and mithered about dear James, as it says on your tee shirt 'Keep calm and carry on.'

Link to this comment

The issue of Public Liability Insurance (read 'health & safety') has become a real pain in the arse out here when it comes to be allowed to play music - even in a venue. As recently as last year, I cancelled a gig because we were required to have our own PLI, make sure every bloody microphone and other assorted lead was taped to the floor and labelled and then be expected to wait for payment (by cheque) for at least a fortnight afterwards for what was to $400 less whatever an agent took for sitting on his fat arse when it was me who'd done all the leg work. Can't even get a gig at the Manly jazz festival anymore because I don't carry PLI for the band! :(

Link to this comment

I got a nasty paper cut from a risk assessment form... Who should I sue?

Link to this comment

As the bard once said, "First, let's kill all the lawyers."

Link to this comment

Fact:over the past couple of centuries we've created and applauded a society that ensures survival of the thickest,sickest,biggest, smallest.. you name it even the survival of those who do not themselvbes wish to survive.. Take it all away and most of you would be dead :D So when were not necessarily granted understanding to be understood.. what's a couple of sheets of ticktheboxing ? You do what you want as long as it's clear you'll blame no one after you die ? How hard can it be ?? james, jezza get a life !!! ..or use the ones you already have and come up with a proper car show.. one aimed at all of us not just the walking dead :DDDDD

Link to this comment

It is as simple as this,don't hire them if they are stupid,the interview for the job would end all h&s issues then

Link to this comment

Asomov used to write of robots with 3 laws (look it up) In doing so the robots would protect us, work for us and in the end stop us from living our lives. They would stop us from doing anything that may bring us to harm and sometimes the very thing thats makes life worth living is the very thing that might scuff a knee cap. I think Asomov only really wrote about robots as red tape didn't look like it would do a better job than robots did. Now we have red tape for the red tape. We have to sign here and initial there. Makes me wish I had a easier signature.

Link to this comment

Clearly, we must be protected from ourselves. After all, following a minimum of 11 years being educated by the 'finest in the land' it's hardly long enough to learn that if you do something stupid, something stupid will result !!

Link to this comment

Speaking of angry people, Top Gear are always getting stick for not having a female on the show, well, next time someone says that, you can say," Well, Top Gear Dog's a girl"

Link to this comment

its all the no win no fee companys faults if it wasnt for them no one would be scared of being sued so the way i see it send them all to the ta training ground for some free target practice there money saved for them then maybe h&s will bugger off and leave us alone

Link to this comment

jeffzekas - Absolutely right but can we add accounts, who've pretty much destroyed the British motor industry! theHSEfan - Sue the HSE, it's their paperwork!! In fact anyone who has to fill in any HSE paperwork should just sue them (HSE) for RSI, from writing and eye strain, from filling in online forms... I do genuinely feel sorry for children growing up these days what sort of a world is being created for them, yes it'll be super safe, but then they'll be like the characters in Wall-e, floating around on hoverchairs unable to do anything for themselves because there's a risk.

Link to this comment

hi James, although I am a great admirer of your show, I cannot agree with your latest tirade against "health & safety". So its ok for you take whatever risk you like? Well maybe your co-presenter might disagree, since he was nearly killed in a stunt that went wrong. When one of your friends or family dies in an avoidable accident, you will feel sick to pit of your stomach and the shock will, I am sure, change your mind. However, in the mean time please pick on someone your own size and do not critise well meaning people who are only doing their jobs. Have fun, I look forward to seeing the next top gear stunt going horribly wrong.

Link to this comment

My comment is this you are right there are to many rules, laws etc. out there nowmany people break them every day. But bad things still happen. In Cancda we have lots of laws that are good but people still what they know is wrong,why do people have to have laws like wear your seat belt,and do not drink and drive,every who drives knows the right things to do but still do what ever they want.I think the thing to is not to ake more laws,and regs,but to educate or brain wash them to do the right things.

Link to this comment

When you and Jeremy find an island where we can be free from h&s idiots, may we join you? Oh and will Oz be invited?

Link to this comment

Health & Safety is a pile of bull c**p. I understand about wanting to keep people safe but this is just taking it too far! The government has an obsession with H&S and it's killing the UK buisnesses! What's worse is peoples obsession with suing a company for the persons own stupidity. I mean, seriously, you do something stupid and you hurt yourself and then you decide to sue the company for allowing it to happen... WHY THE HELL BOTHER!!!!

Link to this comment

I think its not so much the insurers fault, its more the lawyers fault, something thats come from america I think. It seems every time someone does something stupid theyre told to sue someone else for their stupidity.

Link to this comment

You can always come and live in the land of the free..........yep Germany. Here is an example, yesterday I was at an adventure park with my kids, all the rides were free and there was not one health and or safety notice any where to be seen, not even an ''use at your own risk'' sign, just plain common sense prevails, if you dont think its safe for your child either dont let them get on the ride or get on with them.

Link to this comment

The above version is Germany. This is an English example. Whilst on a short break back in good old blighty with my German wife and kids,we decided to go for a meal, my children still like drink formula and one still ate babyfood out of the glass. I asked the waitress if she could heat up the food and the milk in the microwave, answer sorry the microwave is brocken, my answer, no its not Ive just seen it being used, whereas she then informed me its a health and safety thing. ''The food and milk could get too hot, thus resulting in our babies being injured, thus resulting in us suing the restaurant owner, I mean lets be honest here which parent would willingly allow their children to be injured so that they could make a quick buck or so, apparently it has happened.

Link to this comment

So how do I get the food warmed up for my kids I ask, well said the waitress you can use boiling water in a jug, great I said, can you bring me some, no said the waitress its against health and safety to carry boiling hot water, I might trip spill some on a customer, but you can get it and carry it, so I said what happens if I spill it, answer, thats OK were insured for that. Come on England break free of the shackles of the nanny state and get a grip.

Link to this comment

Get a grip! If we didn't nave health and safety we'd be like Poland!

Link to this comment

lol, health and saftey haha who needs it !!!

Link to this comment

This is why we love you James. I agree totally.

Link to this comment

That's the only way "Big Brother" gets at our money and causes everthing to go UP! "Cha Ching!"

Link to this comment

i was disapointed that james didn't put a health and safty warning at the top of his rant .. after taking my time and reading it , looking at the pc monitor has sent me eyes kinda dry and tired .. i noticed there was no risk assesment and method statment .. shame on you mr may .its a good job im wearing my high vis jacket though.

Link to this comment

sooo we've established that health and safety regulations are for fools, conjured up by bored and greedy lawyers to protect restaurant owners, that germany, poland and mexico are countries blessed with most common sense, that firing shed built rockets into the sky is less fun because of the paperwork and that james and jeremy have turned beige and grumpy... and that the only reason we don't tend to sue as much as our cousins on the other side of the water is because we're more commonly sensed ??? Somehow i don't think so ..but James does and he knows best...

Link to this comment

I couldnt agree more James there is a place for general rules for things such as H&S @ work and protecting us from instant death but non senceical crap about letting balloons off driving ect is yet more proof of the "it must be someone elses fault i cant use my own common sence" typing this with gloves and eye protection and a tin foil hat coz i am on the interweb

Link to this comment

It's simple. People have become looters who will try to steal money by the use of irrational laws, designed to be broken, so that money can be taken in the process. Those people obsessed with "health and saftey" are obsessed with the destruction of freedom. They don't make money by producing anything, they steal it by catching people breaking rules that were designed to be impossible to follow. Read the book "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand.

Link to this comment

I think James has made a good point. The Uk has too many health and safety precautions when concerning simple stuff like riding a bicycle, as he said. But we have to remember that it's still important for more dangerous stuff, obviously :D

Link to this comment

The whole point revolves around the freedom, to do as we please: whether we want to run a car at 300 mph or drive our bicycle while eating a sandwich. Yes, the law, most of the times, I think, is structured in such a way in which it protects idiots from themselves. And such it seems that stupid laws are made for stupid people. I guess it would only take good common sense but that's the only sense that isn´t common. But, sadly no man is an island and whether, we want it or not, we affect other people with our actions. So I am right back where I started, I am an advocate for freedom but also I am an advocate for responsible living and dying.

Link to this comment

The whole point revolves around the freedom, to do as we please: whether we want to run a car at 300 mph or drive our bicycle while eating a sandwich. Yes, the law, most of the times, I think, is structured in such a way in which it protects idiots from themselves. And such it seems that stupid laws are made for stupid people. I guess it would only take good common sense but that's the only sense that isn´t common. But, sadly no man is an island and whether, we want it or not, we affect other people with our actions. So I am right back where I started, I am an advocate for freedom but also I am an advocate for responsible living and dying.

Link to this comment

The whole point revolves around the freedom, to do as we please: whether we want to run a car at 300 mph or drive our bicycle while eating a sandwich. Yes, the law, most of the times, I think, is structured in such a way in which it protects idiots from themselves. And such it seems that stupid laws are made for stupid people. I guess it would only take good common sense but that's the only sense that isn´t common. But, sadly no man is an island and whether, we want it or not, we affect other people with our actions. So I am right back where I started, I am an advocate for freedom but also I am an advocate for responsible living and dying.

Link to this comment

The whole point revolves around the freedom, to do as we please: whether we want to run a car at 300 mph or drive our bicycle while eating a sandwich. Yes, the law, most of the times, I think, is structured in such a way in which it protects idiots from themselves. And such it seems that stupid laws are made for stupid people. I guess it would only take good common sense but that's the only sense that isn´t common. But, sadly no man is an island and whether, we want it or not, we affect other people with our actions. So I am right back where I started, I am an advocate for freedom but also I am an advocate for responsible living and dying.

Link to this comment

The whole point revolves around the freedom, to do as we please: whether we want to run a car at 300 mph or drive our bicycle while eating a sandwich. Yes, the law, most of the times, I think, is structured in such a way in which it protects idiots from themselves. And such it seems that stupid laws are made for stupid people. I guess it would only take good common sense but that's the only sense that isn´t common. But, sadly no man is an island and whether, we want it or not, we affect other people with our actions. So I am right back where I started, I am an advocate for freedom but also I am an advocate for responsible living and dying.

Link to this comment

The whole point revolves around the freedom, to do as we please: whether we want to run a car at 300 mph or drive our bicycle while eating a sandwich. Yes, the law, most of the times, I think, is structured in such a way in which it protects idiots from themselves. And such it seems that stupid laws are made for stupid people. I guess it would only take good common sense but that's the only sense that isn´t common. But, sadly no man is an island and whether, we want it or not, we affect other people with our actions. So I am right back where I started, I am an advocate for freedom but also I am an advocate for responsible living and dying.

Link to this comment

The whole point revolves around the freedom, to do as we please: whether we want to run a car at 300 mph or drive our bicycle while eating a sandwich. Yes, the law, most of the times, I think, is structured in such a way in which it protects idiots from themselves. And such it seems that stupid laws are made for stupid people. I guess it would only take good common sense but that's the only sense that isn´t common. But, sadly no man is an island and whether, we want it or not, we affect other people with our actions. So I am right back where I started, I am an advocate for freedom but also I am an advocate for responsible living and dying.

Link to this comment

The whole point revolves around the freedom, to do as we please: whether we want to run a car at 300 mph or drive our bicycle while eating a sandwich. Yes, the law, most of the times, I think, is structured in such a way in which it protects idiots from themselves. And such it seems that stupid laws are made for stupid people. I guess it would only take good common sense but that's the only sense that isn´t common. But, sadly no man is an island and whether, we want it or not, we affect other people with our actions. So I am right back where I started, I am an advocate for freedom but also I am an advocate for responsible living and dying.

Link to this comment