The nature of government: "We don't have anyone qualified"

From This Is True:

"Several residents in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, reported a trash can in a creek, polluting it. Trash collectors refused to touch it because it was not a council-owned container. But despite call after call, no one dragged it out of the water. Harting parish councilor David Barnard finally got an explanation: "[The district spokesman] said, and I quote, 'We don't have anyone qualified to wear wellington boots'. I said: 'But it's only four inches deep'." The district spokesman expected it would take a week to get someone qualified to wear boots to step into the stream to grab the bin. The next day three parish counselors got their own boots and walked over and cleaned the mess up themselves, which they said took all of 10 minutes. (London Telegraph) ...Which was the district's plan all along."