Toddler's death: 'It would be heartless to blame anyone'

THE phrase "every parent's nightmare" is overused – but it surely applies to what happened to tragic toddler Ben McCreath.

Little Ben was only 21 months old when he fell to his death from the first floor of Princes Exchange in Earl Grey Street.

That was the legal office where his mum, Louise, worked and appeared to be a perfectly safe place for him to play while she popped in to meet some colleagues.

But the unimaginable accident happened because Ben was able to squeeze through a 15cm gap between a wall and a safety barrier.

The space was put there by designers for "aesthetic reasons" but it complied with safety regulations at the time. So it would be heartless to put any blame on anyone, including the architects and owners – and certainly not Ben's mother, who had no reason to doubt he was safe.

However, lessons can be learned which may prevent another tragedy. Regulations have already been changed to ensure a 10cm maximum space between protective barriers in any business place children may be.

Sheriff Mhairi Stephen – who visited the scene and like so many others was personally touched by Ben's death – has called for the regulations to be tightened further.

She wants all buildings to be included in the 10cm rule, with no loopholes left for arguments that kids were never intended to be inside.

The News entirely supports her demand – and it won't just be parents who think "there but for the grace of God..." who will agree too.

Driving ahead

JUST a day after the News reported concerns for one shared transportation scheme, today we size up the prospects of another.

Yesterday's report warned that ambitious plans for thousands of bicycles to offer a greener alternative to city residents looked doomed by a lack of interest from advertisers.

The difference with today's story is that it concerns a scheme for cars to be shared – cutting costs for occasional motorists.

It isn't the first such project but it may help cut emissions and car journeys. However, a potentially bigger attraction for would-be participants is a sizeable monthly payment for allowing their driveways to be used for parking.

And with that sort of incentive, what's the betting that this plan gets rolling a lot faster than the bike sharing one?