Dairy man riled by IBspetty officialdom

14 August 1998

Dairy man riled by IB’s
‘petty officialdom’

NORTH Yorks dairy farmer Geoff Bean has run into a new problem in his battle against “pedantic, petty officialdom”, this time with the Intervention Board.

Having sold a cull cow under the over-30-month scheme and completed and signed the appropriate declaration of eligibility, he has been told the form cannot be processed “because the status of the producer differs from the status of the signatory”. He has been asked to clarify his status.

Having signed the form and printed his name in block letters, as requested, Mr Bean wrote “poverty stricken” under the heading of status.

He has written back to the IB pointing out that he is the producer, he is the signatory and he is and always has been poverty stricken, so where is the problem?

Was it just a case of officials being pedantic and bloody-minded, he wondered. “We are being strangled by red tape. There is an ever-growing army of little Hitlers trying to justify their non-productive existence,” Mr Bean added.