East Midlands Rocking Horses set to ride on as EU Rules get all clear

12.00.00am GMT Fri 30th Jan 2004

Traditional rocking horses like this one are safe from the EU despite media scare stories

Traditional rocking horses are set to ride on and on after the British Standards Institution confirmed that a mistake had been made in interpreting EU safety rules for toys.

East Midlands MEP Bill Newton Dunn has been assured that 60cm height restrictions that could have banned Victorian-style rocking horses will not apply.

The BSI says that the guidelines in fact refer not to rocking horses at all, but to the rocking ducks mounted on springs used by infants in many outside playgrounds.

Mr Newton Dunn investigated the situation after national and local newspapers claimed that Brussels rules would put an end to the manufacture of handcrafted wooden rocking horses that are widely regarded as collectors' items.

He said: "All those eurosceptics who got on their high horses and used this as another excuse to bash the EU should admit that they got it wrong.

"Too often it's open season to attack anything involving the word 'Europe' but in this instance the critics can't tell a horse from a duck!"

Traditional wooden rocking horses are mounted either on bow frames or on safety stands. Costing from around £800 to more than £2000, they usually last for decades with many eventually becoming valuable antiques and collectors' items.

They are bought both as traditional leisure toys and by parents of children with cerebral palsy as the rocking movement can improve balance and posture.