Hi Russell - BCA's latest advice seems a bit obsessed with legal definitions - whether a caving club lending out gear to members is a "business". The Welsh Statutory Instrument does not help us here - it refers to a "Business" without defiining it.
I'm struggling to find a legal definition of a business in British law. Can anyone help me? Here is the American one:
"That which occupies the time, attention, and labor of men for the purpose of a livelihood or profit." The implication being paid employment (livelihood) in the hope of being paid a wage/salary etc (from gross profit).
This is not dissimilar to our definition of a mine which is an excavation for the purpose of getting minerals for commercial gain by persons employed for the purpose. So again, there needs to be a livelihood and commerce involved. So a cave dig cannot be a mine when nobody got paid. If a Hymac with paid driver was involved, then it still isn't a mine if the excavated minerals (soil etc) were not sold - the objective was not to "get" the minerals, it was to "get rid of" them.
How many caving clubs pay corporation tax and dutifully fill in an annual CT1 return to HMRC? Hmm, not many.
The other focus of BCA's new statement is washing equipment. What about BCA doing some drop tests on nylon ropes washed on various programmes (low temperature, fast wash, slow wash etc) various number of times, I'm sure Bob can oblige. What is the safest washing powder to use? What about dilute toilet bleach? Dettol? Wool pullover detergent? Fairy Liquid? No detergent or additives at all?