Spraying near a walker who wasn't on the footpath

[farmer92]

So this morning I was spraying off one of our stubble fields with roundup and on the top headland margin there was a woman walking her two dogs.

There is a public footpath that goes directly across the centre of the field (annoyingly) but this margin where she was is no where near the public right of way.

Anyway, as I was coming along the headland tram I noticed her, and thought that I might have to stop and let her get to the end before me, even though she shouldn't have been there in the first place! But as I got nearer, she walked straight into the ditch and squatted down in there giving me an evil look as I drove by, still spraying, even after I'd given her a smile and hands up to say thanks for moving over. Was I in the wrong? There was probably 4-5 metres between her and the end of my sprayer boom, and absolutely no drift as it was very still.

Where does the law stand on spraying near members of the public? She looked pretty annoyed!

 

[DeeGee]

Hi

So this morning I was spraying off one of our stubble fields with roundup and on the top headland margin there was a woman walking her two dogs.

There is a public footpath that goes directly across the centre of the field (annoyingly) but this margin where she was is no where near the public right of way.

Anyway, as I was coming along the headland tram I noticed her, and thought that I might have to stop and let her get to the end before me, even though she shouldn't have been there in the first place! But as I got nearer, she walked straight into the ditch and squatted down in there giving me an evil look as I drove by, still spraying, even after I'd given her a smile and hands up to say thanks for moving over. Was I in the wrong? There was probably 4-5 metres between her and the end of my sprayer boom, and absolutely no drift as it was very still.

Where does the law stand on spraying near members of the public? She looked pretty annoyed!

It is you who should be looking annoyed, not the woman and her dogs!

She had no right to be in that part of the field did she? I am not condoning any actions that some may take, but I am sure that there are some farmers that would not have bothered to be as considerate as you were in that situation!

 

[farmer92]

Hi


It is you who should be looking annoyed, not the woman and her dogs!

She had no right to be in that part of the field did she? I am not condoning any actions that some may take, but I am sure that there are some farmers that would not have bothered to be as considerate as you were in that situation!

Yeah I was annoyed, as I wanted to crack on and get the job done as I had a fair bit of work ahead of me this morning. I just didn't want to do anything I shouldn't have done. If she was on a footpath then I probably would have stopped. Like I said, the field has a footpath going straight through the middle of it, but she was no where near it!

 

[bobk]

First time I'm polite .... after that .....

 

[Bald Rick]

Hi


It is you who should be looking annoyed, not the woman and her dogs!

She had no right to be in that part of the field did she? I am not condoning any actions that some may take, but I am sure that there are some farmers that would not have bothered to be as considerate as you were in that situation!

Far be it for me to take issue with you @DeeGee but I am going too ...........

Farming gets enough muck thrown at it without adding to the problem. Sure she may not have been on the Public Footpath but she wasnt really doing any harm walking on stubble. A bit of consideration by the OP would perhaps have gone a long way to gaining a bit of support for what could be a beleaguered industry if the Tories get their Brexiting way
Waiting for the walker to have passed with the spray boom off would have taken 5 minutes at worst.

 

[TheTallGuy]

Regardless of whether she was trespassing you still have a duty of care towards her safety. For instance, she may not have been aware that she was trespassing or she might not be mentally competent to understand that she was in the wrong place. That's probably not the case here, but the principle stands regardless, hence why you can't just beat up burglars...

 

[bobk]

Far be it for me to take issue with you @DeeGee but I am going too ...........

Farming gets enough muck thrown at it without adding to the problem. Sure she may not have been on the Public Footpath but she wasnt really doing any harm walking on stubble. A bit of consideration by the OP would perhaps have gone a long way to gaining a bit of support for what could be a beleaguered industry if the Tories get their Brexiting way
Waiting for the walker to have passed with the spray boom off would have taken 5 minutes at worst.

Good luck with that , let one stray and you'll get 50 tomorrow .

 

[bobk]

Regardless of whether she was trespassing you still have a duty of care towards her safety. For instance, she may not have been aware that she was trespassing or she might not be mentally competent to understand that she was in the wrong place. That's probably not the case here, but the principle stands regardless, hence why you can't just beat up burglars...

They know exactly what they're doing .... taking the pi55

 

[TheTallGuy]

Far be it for me to take issue with you @DeeGee but I am going too ...........

Farming gets enough muck thrown at it without adding to the problem. Sure she may not have been on the Public Footpath but she wasnt really doing any harm walking on stubble. A bit of consideration by the OP would perhaps have gone a long way to gaining a bit of support for what could be a beleaguered industry if the Tories get their Brexiting way
Waiting for the walker to have passed with the spray boom off would have taken 5 minutes at worst.

Sprayer off would have give the OP a chance to point out the error of the dog walker's way in a polite manner...

 

[TheTallGuy]

They know exactly what they're doing .... taking the pi55

Maybe so, but that's not how it stands in law.

 

[Bald Rick]

Good luck with that , let one stray and you'll get 50 tomorrow .

Have two scheduled ancient monuments on my land. Given up being the angry young man and have become the genial geezer instead.

 

[bobk]

Maybe so, but that's not how it stands in law.

What law ? if they're not on the footpath they're trespassing .

 

[Zippy768]

Probably should have stopped and let her pass. 4/5 metres really isn't that far away from a working sprayer boom. Simply for safety and PR.
After stopping maybe explain to said lady quite where the path runs - politely

 

[bobk]

Have two scheduled ancient monuments on my land. Given up being the angry young man and have become the genial geezer instead.

Druids ?

 

[7610 super q]

I hate ramblists with a passion, but in this case, boom off till they've past methinks.
I've been known to stop the fert spreader so the little sh!ts don't get skitted with prills.
They'll soon sue the ar*se off you, despite them being in the wrong place.

 

[TheTallGuy]

There's lots of case law, but essentially you are potentially committing ABH - given that you are not even allowed to punch a burglar unless you are in fear of your own safety or that of your family.

 

[ollie989898]

So instead of wasting an absolutely golden opportunity to educate and inform a member of the public/potential customer (and explain what you were doing and why, more importantly), instead you elected to continue spraying whilst the person was stood 20 feet away. Whilst you were at it you could have pointed out that the footpath was from x to y but no, 3 minutes of your time was better employed driving past with a grin.



And we wonder why the public have a low opinion of the industry!

Sorry but I don't see how anyone could claim the outcome as a favourable one.

Seriously now, we know the public are hyper-sensitive toward pesticides and sprayers, and you try this kind of stunt. Really?!

 

[Bald Rick]

Druids ?

As a point of interest, Anglesey is/was a hot bed of Druidism including standing on the Anglesey side of the Menai Straits naked & covered in woad waving their wangers (& other moveable bits) at the Romans and daring them to cross if they (the Romans) thought they were hard enough. Needless to say, the Romans kicked ass.
As another point of interest, Bill Roache (Ken Barlow of Coronation Street fame) is a druid and attends festivals here (i believe)

As to the monuments - a fortified market and a couple of very large standing stones (one of which served as a gable end for a cottage circa 1780s)

 

[mushnt grummmble]

So this morning I was spraying off one of our stubble fields with roundup and on the top headland margin there was a woman walking her two dogs.

There is a public footpath that goes directly across the centre of the field (annoyingly) but this margin where she was is no where near the public right of way.

Anyway, as I was coming along the headland tram I noticed her, and thought that I might have to stop and let her get to the end before me, even though she shouldn't have been there in the first place! But as I got nearer, she walked straight into the ditch and squatted down in there giving me an evil look as I drove by, still spraying, even after I'd given her a smile and hands up to say thanks for moving over. Was I in the wrong? There was probably 4-5 metres between her and the end of my sprayer boom, and absolutely no drift as it was very still.

Where does the law stand on spraying near members of the public? She looked pretty annoyed!

When i did my pa1/2i was told to stop and let them past.....
However i would have stopped and explained where the path was and she should probably go to the vet with the dog as you were spraying dihydrogen monoxide and the dog would have consumed some

 

[ollie989898]

All you need to do is stop. Hop out, explain you are spraying X and why you need to do it, and tell them it ain't gonna harm their dog, then point out they are way off the footpath. Job done, +100 farming industry PR points gained.