Wasn't at Billy Smarts was it? ;-) The sites I have visited I have never seen them in use so it is best I not give an opinion. Out of curiosity what negative views on this way of working at height have there been (if any) and how high can these contraptions go? The ones I saw on tv only looked to raise the person up 600mm - do they go much higher?

I wouldn't normally have any idea about this, save for having an extension constructed at home some months ago. All of the trades came and went, organised by my favourite builders. The plaster, who towered over me even without stilts, used these for the various ceilings. In an idle moment I invited him to let me have a go. Given that I am unsteady going upstairs and down these days, I held myself steady on the top of a door to start with but was amazed how stable these professional stilts are. Though he had to help me up and down onto a chair, in no time I was pacing in and out of the extension and down the garden path - how much different from the two poles that we used when I was a kid. At the end of the month I will turn 60. Yippee - next time, roller skates