Thanks everyone. 24 hours later and I am a bit calmer!
The trouble is with newer beekeepers is that when the inspector arrives the belief is that they ;( the inspector) know best. However I now believe that the 'owner' of the hives knows best and that we should all be prepared to be more forceful as to when and how they inspect our bees. If we feel that they are being too rough, or the conditions are not right that we should be able to say 'ok that's enough, time to close up! ' .
I know they have a job to do and how important it is but I think we must be strong enough to say how the bees that we look after should be treated.
This situation was hopefully pretty unique but no amount of apologies from the beekeeper are going to make the parents of the child that was stung feel any better! There we go.... Another learning curve and something to put down to experience but worth remembering if the inspector calls to inspect your bees and you feel that the time or situation is not right!
Cheers
E