laws on battlefield guides

[trenchwalker]

are there on laws on being a battlefield guide to make sure you are a proper guide just after reading the battlefield guild thread.

or can you you just say im a guide thats a field something happend there give me money.

[Marco]

When you drive people to that field and have accepted money for that you are liable if anything happens to them (car accident or something). Normal car insurance won't cover that and I have been told that in France even a taxi insurance doesn't cover that since you do more than bring them from A to B.

I want money for this advice.

Regards,

Marco

[Chris_Baker]

In a world that is increasingly sensitive so such things, if advice given is poor you could be accused of effectively selling sub-standard goods or not living up to claims made in a brochure. I don't know of this happening, but it no doubt could. If I had paid £300 or more for a tour and the advice was poor, I'd complain, and yes sure I'd sue to get my money back if it was that bad.

There is a current attempt to introduce some form of accreditation as a means of quality assurance. [There's a discussion thread about it at the moment, title Guild of Battlefield Guides, for those who have not seen this].

[Paul Reed]

or can you you just say im a guide thats a field something happend there give me money.

When I read some of the postings on this site demonising battlefield guides and tours, I am beginning to think many people really believe this... but sadly, there are already people 'in the field' doing just this. Having a Guild won't stop it, I am afraid.

[Hedley Malloch]

or can you you just say im a guide thats a field something happend there give me money.

Well you can do it, Trench, but that's not the question. The question is should you do it? The answer is 'no'.

[Mark Hone]

Reminds me of the guided punt trips at Cambridge where it was discovered that some of the guides were simply making up the commentary as they went along, supplying ever more fanciful historical and architectural details to the mostly overseas clientele. Of course battlefield guides who rely purely on swotting up from well known guide books can end up retelling inaccurate stories, such as the location of the VC actions of the two Australians buried at Tyne Cot.