Not switched on

Another week another story about people getting bogged down in red tape.

And this week, even a seemingly simple task like getting electricity installed in your home can result in a minefield of paperwork that would leave even the most patient of souls at their wit’s end.

It took expats Ken and Val Kendal the best part of a decade and €90,000 just to be told by the powers that be that they could not get electricity at their home because of a tedious new law.

And the fact they had already erected 12 pylons and all the necessary cabling held no weight in swaying the decision.

This sorry tale can’t help but provoke thoughts of the famous Little Britain sketch, ‘Computer says no!’

The sketch pokes fun at bureaucracy in the UK, but in reality the red tape is nothing compared to what people can sometimes experience in Spain.

The plight of the Kendal family and their frustrated neighbours is just another story that suggests Spain really isn’t as switched on as it should be.