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Tier 4: What the Government guidance (but not the law) says about travel

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The Government has just published its guidance on travel for anyone living in a Tier 4 area in England. Can you travel in the UK or fly abroad if you live in Tier 4?

The official version is here but we have cut and pasted it below. One key point is that people living in Tiers 1-3 are specificially allowed to travel to Heathrow or other airports in Tier 4. Gatwick is NOT in Tier 4.

The majority of flights will continue since only a minority of the population is covered by Tier 4 restrictions.

As usual, what is ‘guidance’ and what is ‘the law’ can be different things. It will only be clear what constitutes an offence when the Statutory Instrument is published, and nothing will become law until that time. It is not clear when this will be – it had not been published by Sunday morning.

(EDIT: the legal text is now available and came into effect at 7am on Sunday – see our article here)

However, this line:

“You cannot leave home for holidays or stays overnight away from your main home unless permitted by law.”

…. implies that the offence will be for ‘leaving home’ and not for travelling abroad, or indeed in the UK, in itself – although you would still be committing an offence.

It is also worth remembering that countries may choose to bring in new restrictions on arrivals from the UK. The Netherlands has already banned flights from the UK until at least 1st January.

The situation is different in Scotland, with travel to or from the rest of the UK now illegal.

easyJet has announced that it will refund Tier 4 residents due to travel before the end of the year.

The following is quoted from gov.uk:

Travelling within a tier 4 area

If you live in a tier 4 area, you must stay at home. You must not leave your home to travel unless for work, education or other legally permitted reasons. If you need to travel you should stay local – meaning avoiding travelling outside of your village, town or the part of a city where you live – and look to reduce the number of journeys you make overall. The list of reasons you can leave your home and area include, but are not limited to:

  • work, where you cannot work from home
  • accessing education and for caring responsibilities
  • visiting those in your support bubble – or your childcare bubble for childcare
  • visiting hospital, GP and other medical appointments or visits where you have had an accident or are concerned about your health
  • buying goods or services from premises that are open in Tier 4 areas, including essential retail, but these should be within your local area wherever possible
  • spending time or exercising outdoors. This should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel a short distance within your Tier 4 area to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space)
  • attending the care and exercise of a pet, or veterinary services

If you need to travel, walk or cycle where possible, and plan ahead and avoid busy times and routes on public transport. This will allow you to practise social distancing while you travel.

Avoid car sharing with anyone from outside your household or your support bubble. See the guidance on car sharing.

If you need to use public transport, you should follow the safer travel guidance.

Travelling out of a tier 4 area

You must stay at home and not leave your Tier 4 area, other than for legally permitted reasons such as:

  • travel to work where you cannot work from home
  • travel to education and for caring responsibilities
  • visit those in your support bubble – or your childcare bubble for childcare
  • attend hospital, GP and other medical appointments or visits where you have had an accident or are concerned about your health

The full list of exceptions will be published in the Regulations.

Travelling to a tier 4 area from a tier 1, 2 or 3 area

You should not travel into a Tier 4 area from another part of the UK, other than for reasons such as:

  • travel to work where you cannot work from home
  • travel to education and for caring responsibilities
  • to visit those in your support bubble – or your childcare bubble for childcare
  • to attend hospital, GP and other medical appointments or visits where you have had an accident or are concerned about your health

You should continue to practise safe behaviours on public transport:

  • plan ahead, check for disruption before you leave, and avoid the busiest routes, as well as busy times
  • avoid making unnecessary stops during your journey
  • avoid sharing a car with people not in your household
  • keep your distance from other people when you travel, where possible
  • wash or sanitise your hands regularly

International travel to or from a tier 4 area

If you are in Tier 4, you should not be travelling abroad unless it is permitted. In addition, you should consider the public health advice in the country you are visiting.

If you live outside a tier 4 area you may still transit into or through a tier 4 area to travel abroad if you need to, but you should carefully consider whether you need to do so. In addition, you should follow the public health advice in the country you’re visiting.

If you do need to travel overseas from a tier 4 area (and are legally permitted to do so, for example, because it is for work), even if you are returning to a place you’ve visited before, you should look at the rules in place at your destination and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) travel advice.

UK residents currently abroad do not need to return home immediately. However, you should check with your airline or travel operator on arrangements for returning.

Staying away from home overnight

You cannot leave home for holidays or stays overnight away from your main home unless permitted by law. This means that holidays in the UK and abroad are not allowed. This includes staying in a second home or caravan, or staying with anyone you do not live with or are in a support bubble with.

You are allowed to stay overnight away from your home if you:

  • are unable to return to your main residence
  • need accommodation while moving house
  • need accommodation to attend a funeral or related commemorative event
  • require accommodation for work purposes or to provide voluntary services
  • are a child requiring accommodation for school or care
  • are homeless, seeking asylum or a vulnerable person seeking refuge
  • are an elite athlete or their support staff or parent, if the athlete is under 18 and it is necessary to be outside of the home for training or competition

If you are already on holiday in a Tier 4 area, you should return to your home as soon as practical

Guest accommodation providers such as hotels, B&Bs and caravan parks may remain open for the specific reasons set out in law, including where guests are unable to return to their main residence, use that guest accommodation as their main residence, need accommodation while moving house, are self-isolating as required by law, or would otherwise be made homeless as a result of the accommodation closing. Accommodation providers are also encouraged to work cooperatively with Local Authorities to provide accommodation to vulnerable groups including the homeless in tier 4 areas.

Category

General

Comments (345)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • NigelthePensioner says:
    20 Dec20 December 08:46

    The travel corridors need to shut straightaway.
    People who wish to fly to sunny climes for their own “sanity” must realise that they will be mixing with other foreign nationals with similar hangups – US citizens who dont seem to care and are relatively unregulated, Swedes, Danes etc etc. A negative test is only valid for the moment it was done – just like a car’s MOT as has already been said. When you arrive back, you quarantine for 10 days or pay for a private test after 5 days (ie on day 6) and wait until the result has come back negative (day 7 or 8 depending on the liberal nature of your wallet!). If you are positive, you repeat the quarantine cycle without the option of another test. Your employer will decide if you will get sick pay (unlikely) or whether you will take the time of as A/L or have deduction of pay.
    I actually think it’s quite disrespectful to NHS and other care workers to flout what should be common sense and and then expect to float back into the UK as if nothing has happened. Our NHS Colleagues have suffered – some the ultimate sacrifice – for the benefit of all sick patients during this time. Can we not just hang on a bit and await greater inoculation numbers before putting ourselves, others and our NHS at unnecessary risk??

    • TGLoyalty says:
      20 Dec20 December 08:53

      Lots of people are suffering Nigel.

      Mental Health is all too often a silent killer.
      Isolation can be extremely debilitating for some.
      There are far too many stories of people dying alone or in fact simply just surviving alone, not living because it’s not really a life to be in a room alone for 24 hours a day 7 days a week with no social contact.

      Have to be honest all the NHS virtue signalling is getting extremely tiring.

      • SteveD says:
        20 Dec20 December 10:26

        I don’t understand how this is ‘virtue signalling’. Since when has it been unacceptable to discuss how people should act for the benefit of wider society?

        ‘Hi all – I just made a large charitable donation, but I don’t like to talk about it’ – virtue signalling.

        Smoking is bad for you / drink driving kills people / unnecessarily spreading covid is irresponsible – not virtue signalling

      • David S says:
        20 Dec20 December 10:26

        Well said….I could hang on in there in Tier 4 if I knew when I would be Vaccinated. Even doing 1million a week (8 times more than now) which is what the USA is aiming for, it would take 60 weeks to give half the U.K. population the full two doses if my Maths is right and I’m probably near the back of that queue

      • J says:
        20 Dec20 December 10:34

        The isolation/mental health virtue signalling is far more prevalent. Although I don’t believe you are part of this, there is a decent overlap between those currently highlighting mental health concerns caused by isolation, and those who have spent years opposing increasing NHS mental health capacity. Virtue signalling by definition requires a level of hypocrisy.

      • Lady London says:
        20 Dec20 December 17:31

        Don’t take this the wrong way but I am making a point of calling a number of single men of my acquaintance every week to see how they are and letting them know roughly when I will call again. It seems men who find themselves alone may be at greater risk than women, on average.

  • fran says:
    20 Dec20 December 08:46

    Can anyone explain, if you are a EU citizen living in the UK in tier 4, can you travel to visit family in your home country, or is it banned? It’s so confusing, I’m reading the regulations, but it’s not clear…

    • Rob says:
      20 Dec20 December 09:15

      Non-UK residents can return home, and I imagine waiving an EU passport would convince anyone you didn’t live here. Legally, you can’t unless they are about to die.

      • fran says:
        20 Dec20 December 09:26

        Thanks so much for the reply. I am resident in the UK with an indefinite leave to remain. I have a EU passport but my son who was born in the UK and travelling with me atm only has a UK passport.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          20 Dec20 December 09:44

          So the rules say unless you have a reasonable excuse (there is a pretty long list of them) you shouldn’t leave home.

          Going abroad to see family is not a reasonable excuse so if you are stopped you could be turned around or fined.

          Reality is you’re unlikely to be stopped and once you’re at the airport no one will question you.

          It’s up to you to decide if travelling internationally to see parents is a good idea right now when the government is worried about a new “more contagious “ strain.

        • GeorgeJ says:
          20 Dec20 December 10:31

          Fran, I think you also need to consider how you will get back. If countries start banning incoming passengers from the UK that will lead to flights being cancelled completely. Can you afford to be away indefinitely?

      • Bagoly says:
        20 Dec20 December 14:00

        I think waiving your EU passport (in order to rely on a UK one) would achieve precisely the opposite! 🙂 🙂 🙂

    • James says:
      20 Dec20 December 12:41

      If you live in a tier 4 area, its shameful that you’d even consider trying to leave it atm.

  • Number9 says:
    20 Dec20 December 09:10

    Agreed. I read yesterday’s chat at 5am this morning, all trying to score points all being vile to each other. All trying to score points for the most virtuous. Sickening indeed.

    • Anna says:
      20 Dec20 December 09:17

      I know! I had a quick look at 4 am because I couldn’t sleep and there was a right old polemic going on! While I certainly accept all the points about doing the right thing and saving the NHS, I’m not sure that ranting about it on HFP is going to have the slightest impact on what people actually decide to do …

    • Jack says:
      20 Dec20 December 13:55

      Yup, always the same names too.

  • Chris says:
    20 Dec20 December 09:24

    So more than 9 months in and so far 0.1% of the population has died from Covid.
    0.6% have died from non-Covid causes.
    100% of the population have had their freedoms curtailed.
    100% have had their mental wellbeing harmed.
    100% of the nation’s children have had their education damaged.
    Sorry for injecting a bit of rational perspective.

    • Bill says:
      20 Dec20 December 09:34

      What % get long covid ?
      What % occupancy of hospitals?

      Go back to bed Chris

      • TGLoyalty says:
        20 Dec20 December 09:48

        Long Covid affects around 0.1% of those that had Covid symptoms (which is only c66% of those that actually had Covid infections)

        Long Covid is no different to the effects a very small number of people feel after catching other viruses.

        Occupancy % of all beds was, at the end of last week, lower than the occupancy % of beds in the same week last year.

        Overall number of beds was down 8k because the tories have spent 10 years cutting NHS funding.

        • Lady London says:
          20 Dec20 December 11:02

          Since we’re all so off topic here, if there wasn’t so much wastage, overpaid do-nothing managers (and a bit of graft but that’s inevitable then putting more money into the NHS would no longer be so like pouring it into a bottomless toilet.

          Ditto the BBC.

          • KellyK says:
            20 Dec20 December 11:11

            I assume you meant to post in the Daily Mail’s comment section…..

          • Nick_C says:
            20 Dec20 December 14:45

            Completely agree. In normal times, things like outpatients clinics are under utilised.

            When I used to be involved in offering the ‘flu jab to our staff, we got quotes from the local NHS Trust but the were far more expensive than a private clinic.

            The problems of the NHS won’t be solved purely by throwing more money at it. It has to become more efficient.

            The BBC will also not become efficient while they literally have a license to raise money from people who don’t even use their services. They need to go subscription only.

          • Lady London says:
            20 Dec20 December 17:22

            100% with you Nick_C.

        • S says:
          20 Dec20 December 11:38

          TGLoyalty, the first few points you made there are a little misleading. Long Covid is a more serious problem than that caused by other viruses: it’s more than 0.1%, there’s a lot we still don’t know about Covid, and the sheer number of people catching Covid mean that even if those first two things were true, the scale of the problem is substantial.

          In relation to bed occupancy, it is very misleading to look at overall figures. I work in medical research, and the headline occupancy rate conceals two things: first, if you have an infectious disease you ideally need 3 segregated areas (uncertain status, confirmed positive patients, confirmed negative patients). That absolutely kills capacity – you might have free beds in a ‘green’ zone, but you can’t transfer your Covid+ patients there. Linked to this is the different levels of acuity: you might have lots of beds free in low acuity Covid negative wards, but that doesn’t help if you need them in high acuity Covid + wards. Hospitals only function because patients are able to flow between high/low acuity areas and be discharged, and infection control is a massive drain on capacity. Second, average bed occupancy conceals massive differences between different areas/hospitals, exacerbated by the first point. The North East came very close to cancelling all non-elective operations in late November. Other areas are already doing that. There’s also the issue that if you’ve got specialised staff off sick with Covid or suspected Covid, you aren’t able to deliver the care even if you have the beds.

          Of course, all of this is on top of the usual heart attacks, strokes, road-traffic accidents, etc too. So once capacity is breached it’s not only Covid patients who suffer – it is everyone else who needs care including those with cancer and other chronic illnesses.

          This is why keeping the absolute numbers down, and well below the capacity limits of the NHS (beds, staff, equipment etc) is so important.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            20 Dec20 December 11:49

            We will agree to disagree on long Covid, no one anywhere ever has said all of this is in place because of long Covid.

            We could debate for hours about how we could achieve all of the things required with the right level of investment and targeted response but it would have had to happen over years of investing in the right facilities and people.

            I’m not saying there aren’t real issues, I’m not saying long Covid isn’t a thing but I’m saying that it’s more complicated than just saying 50k dead and save the NHS every other comment.

          • Callum says:
            20 Dec20 December 12:18

            An often overlooked point. My trust has been barely touched by covid in terms of numbers of patients coming in with it, but it’s regularly closing down bedspace because it can’t maintain safe staffing levels.

          • A says:
            20 Dec20 December 22:46

            Really interesting context on the occupancy rates – thanks for the informative post!

    • Olly says:
      20 Dec20 December 09:51

      So 0.1% isn’t that far from natural causes, and with all the restrictions!! So I wonder what the death toll would have been without them? What the mental wellbeing of the NHS DRs, nurses, staff and their families would be, or their health had the nation’s freedom not been curtailed? And the outrage from families who’s loved ones had died to it because the government had not put restrictions in place, probably the very same ones who complained the restrictions were to much.
      You think people are apoplectic now but I can tell you it’s nothing compared to had the Swedish model of less, been imposed. Anyhoo…. Hard place/ rock. There will be those shouting from the roof tops ( or soapbox, depending your own view) of how the restrictions are never enough and the polar opposite will shout right back at them that is to much.
      It is what it is and until you’ve suffered the loss of someone close, it might be difficult to get the big pictures for some, often due to selfishness and their loss of freedoms.I
      I was very much looking forward to spending Christmas skiing in Switzerland but have had to cancel. I booked on points knowing this night happen and so haven’t lost anything aside from happiness at whizzing down the slopes.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        20 Dec20 December 10:13

        Who knows how many are yet to die because diagnosis and treatments for serious illnesses was put on hold for months or because of financial hardships to come, suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 and poor men under 45 are more likely than those that are in a better financial position.

        Who knows how much less stress those NHS staff would have had if funding hadn’t stalled (per capita and as % of GDP) and staff weren’t subject to cuts for years to meet funding gaps due to an every growing and ageing population.

        • Olly says:
          20 Dec20 December 10:52

          @TGL apologies if I gave the impression I was up for a discussion. With a son , a Dr in a hospital who caught it from a patient there, and was very unwell I am saying I have a vested interest. Serious conditions may go undiscovered but probably due to the NHS staff having to deal with Covid cases in place of their usual roles and the other departments closing while that is the case, because of the amount of people who disregard restrictions.You only have to look on here to see the attempts at getting around the rules. We should be looking at the spirit, not the letter of the law. I couldn’t believe the amount of people in central London this week going about their day as if nothing was going on. No masks, no distancing, coughing and sneezing out and about in droves. I mentioned to the wife that it would be a miracle if there want a spike and look at us less that a week later.
          Having lost an older brother to suicide, I am also well aware of the impact of that. I would say unlike Covid, the serious illnesses are not highly contagious, especially the new strain, and if people continue to ignore it the next couple of weeks will be devastating. I would encourage people to think of the NHS staff (and families) spending Christmas at work looking after Covid victims when they would rather be at home with the family but cannot because numpties who’s personal priorities are more important. I’ll get my coat!

          • TGLoyalty says:
            20 Dec20 December 11:33

            Not up for a discussion either.

            My point is simply there are many sides to this cube and save the NHS isn’t the only one and telling everyone to stop what they are doing isn’t the only way to curb the spread among the vulnerable.

        • Callum says:
          20 Dec20 December 12:39

          A weird point to make given the lockdown is specifically designed to reduce covid patient numbers to allow those routine treatments to continue. Which seems to be something you’re arguing against (or have I misunderstood) – i.e. your position is precisely what is causing those delays.

          Or do you really think there are vast swathes of beds and staff just sitting around doing nothing?

          • James says:
            20 Dec20 December 12:47

            Sadly, TGL probably does.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            20 Dec20 December 13:43

            I absolutely do not think there are empty beds and staff sitting around doing nothing.

            Lockdowns of the full population are not the only ways to curb the spread in vulnerable populations.

  • Joe says:
    20 Dec20 December 09:45

    I suspect that people’s commitment and enthusiasm for this sort of thing is pretty shot now and while some people will make new arrangements to comply, by and large people will quietly, discreetly still have the Christmas they were planning. Maybe I’m wrong.

    • Aeronaut says:
      20 Dec20 December 13:07

      I think you’re wrong. Lots of people rearranging or cancelling things, especially those in tier 4 areas.

      Salvation is on the horizon, so hold the line.

      • memesweeper says:
        20 Dec20 December 13:19

        +1

        For all the thousands who bolted last night out of London there are millions staying put.

        I bolted. Not my finest hour, but I need a few more hours of human company before the long weeks of separation kick in again. I will return home, which is my legal obligation, but I’m in no hurry.

  • Dominic says:
    20 Dec20 December 09:48

    I am in a tier 4 area.

    I live in a village of a couple of thousand people. I believe I can count on one hand the number of confirmed cases the village has had. Since March.

    Ludicrous.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      20 Dec20 December 09:49

      Sledgehammer to crack a nut.

      • Prune says:
        20 Dec20 December 09:58

        Not really. If you are at the coalface of this you will have seen an exponential rise of cases in the last week. I have seen more cases in the past 5 days than I have in the last 6 months. The problem is that the majority of people are responsible and careful but the minority flaunt the rules. This in turn pushes up numbers and causes the government to impose these lockdowns. We are paying the price for not properly enforcing the rules!

        • Chris says:
          20 Dec20 December 10:11

          If someone can show evidence that fit, healthy people are suffering in their hundreds of thousands then more people would take notice and obey the restrictions.

          My elderly relatives are in hiding. Why do us low-risk people have to suffer to preserve the freedoms of those elderly risk takers who aren’t shielding?

          • Julie M says:
            21 Dec21 December 06:52

            My husband and I are quite fit and healthy and covid properly knocked us out. We had no appetite whatsoever, brain fog and two weeks of severe fatigue. The worst part was the one week where we were both depressed, I have never been blue before and it seemed like there was no way out. We’re very lucky not to have long covid but I still am struggling to breathe normally. People really need to take the virus seriously, you can’t predict what it will do to your body.

        • Anna says:
          20 Dec20 December 10:12

          Flout the rules! Flaunting them would be the exact opposite of what you mean lol.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          20 Dec20 December 10:16

          Wholesale Lockdowns do not work they absolutely are sledhammers to crack a nut.

          The example of the OP is exactly why they don’t work. What personal faith/investment does the OP have in these restrictions when they look around their local village and wonder why they are subject to the same restrictions to parts of London which have 1000’s of active cases right now?

          • BuildTheWall says:
            20 Dec20 December 10:38

            Fifty thousand dead. What more evidence do u need? Can u guarantee the entire population will behave if there was no lockdown?

          • TGLoyalty says:
            20 Dec20 December 12:12

            Why not bold it a stick it in capitals.

            And it’s clear less and less people are complying with these rules.

          • Callum says:
            20 Dec20 December 12:22

            Tell that to Australians and New Zealanders who are currently living completely covid-free…

            The only reason it hasn’t worked in the UK is that it’s an inherently selfish society (this board proves it on a daily basis – “who cares if sick people die, why should I be the one to suffer, I’m fine”) with close to zero law enforcement. If the laws were actually enforced then we would not be in this mess right now.

          • Lady London says:
            20 Dec20 December 12:37

            @Callum well said

          • TGLoyalty says:
            20 Dec20 December 13:45

            Stop drawing comparisons to NZ and Aus. We have a completely different way of life. If you closed the borders completely tomorrow this country wouldn’t function. It’s nonsense

          • callum says:
            20 Dec20 December 17:55

            I’ll compare to Australia and NZ as much as I’d like thank you very much.

            While I didn’t reference closing the borders, it absolutely wouldn’t cause the UK to “cease to function”. Closing the border did not stop the Melbourne outbreak, a lockdown did. Period. Australians are not aliens who have a completely different way of life to the British, nor are they any more honest or compliant. They had police and army patrols 24/7 with incredibly strict punishments.

            You keep banging on about there being alternatives that work just as well (though I’ve not actually seen you substantiate it – not that I’ve read the thousands of posts on this topic), but that’s irrelevant. Lockdowns work – period. Though I see you’re slowly changing your position from “lockdowns do not work” to “there are other alternatives”, so perhaps we’re getting closer to being on the same page!

          • TGLoyalty says:
            21 Dec21 December 00:06

            Lockdowns work – period. Seriously!

            How did lockdown 1 go in eradicating the virus from Scotland.

            How’s lockdown 1 and 2 gone in eradicating the virus from England?

            How’s lockdown and firebreaks gone in Wales or NI?

            We can review the effects of T4 in a months time too.

    • Rantallion says:
      20 Dec20 December 12:09

      Same here, but our Tier 4 village of 2,000 people had 38 new cases last week. Not so ludicrous.

      • Lady London says:
        20 Dec20 December 12:40

        Which means that the actual number of people already infected and infecting others in your village is already a multiple of that.

    • Nick_C says:
      20 Dec20 December 12:38

      I also live in a village of a couple of thousand people. But my nearest decent supermarkets are in towns of 33 thousand people. Tier 4 means my brother and sister in law will not be able to have their grown up kids home for Xmas. As the kids live in London and my brother is over 70, this makes perfect sense to me.

      My main problem with Tier 4 is, once again, it is too little too late, and the way it has been introduced makes it hard to have any confidence that our Government knows what it is doing. The message from the top has been unclear and muddled since day 1.

      The Tier 4 restrictions will be widely flouted. That is why Boris was reluctant to bring them in. It seems he now realises he would have been blamed for the thousands more deaths that are on the way if he had done nothing.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        20 Dec20 December 13:49

        To be honest Nick if he’s over 70 no one should have contemplated coming over for Xmas for a prolonged dinner/day/night/5 day period in the first place regardless of what the bubble rules said.

        • Nick_C says:
          20 Dec20 December 14:53

          I completely agree, but they were going to take the risk so I welcome the Tier 4 restrictions. I hope we all survive long enough to enjoy a helluva summer party in 2021, once all us oldies have been vaccinated.

          Sadly, this failure to take the virus seriously is widespread.

    • James says:
      20 Dec20 December 12:50

      Dominic, do you release how pathetic you sound. You probably barely know the names of most of your nearest neighbours, let alone what is going on in the lives of the other 1,950 plus people in your village.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        20 Dec20 December 13:52

        The irony of bashing someone you know nothing about for not knowing anything about their actual neighbours.

      • Dominic says:
        20 Dec20 December 16:53

        Blimey, James!

        I see what people mean by the bizarre hatred on here over the last day.

        But having lived in the village for more than 20 years… yup, I know my neighbours.

  • Bill says:
    20 Dec20 December 09:59

    What’s the alternative ?
    It’s easy to just complain about lockdown.

    100 % mask wearing by law in all settings and locations ?

    • BuildTheWall says:
      20 Dec20 December 10:40

      Exactly. No one wants draconian laws here like in Asia. And they don’t want lockdown too.

      • KellyK says:
        20 Dec20 December 11:35

        Asia is handling this far better than we are , Thailand Malaysia Singapore s Korea Vietnam …..rules are more relaxed than here , the difference being people obey them

    • TGLoyalty says:
      20 Dec20 December 10:45

      Wearing them outdoors is utterly
      pointless.

      • Lady London says:
        20 Dec20 December 11:10

        Provided distance is kept and greater distance if someone is perspiring/breathing heavily/shouting I agree with you @TG.

        Just a little proviso that with this new even more transmissable variant, perhaps 3 meters minimum 2 might be safer than the current 1 meter min/2 meters.

      • John says:
        20 Dec20 December 23:30

        You’re saying the scientific advisors, professors, in France, Italy, Spain, Poland… and many others are wrong? If wearing masks outside is stupid and pointless then maybe other aspects of the Covid response are also stupid and pointless. Moreover, by leftist logic, France et al is entitled to call the likes of Witty, Boris and VT, Grandma Killers by failing to enforce outside mask wearing?

        The same way the “scientists” in Blighty chastise Sweden for putting its population at risk.

        Total mask enforcement is the only answer.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          21 Dec21 December 00:11

          Read my reply on the next page.

          Google cases studies on Covid contact tracing.

          There’s one about a bus full of worshippers who went to an outdoor event and not a single person was infected outside of the buses. Even though patient 0(s as people on each bus) walked around in close proximity to 100’s -1000’s of others outdoors.

  • Bora says:
    20 Dec20 December 10:08

    So, I’m a non-UK resident here with a working visa but I have to travel back home this Tuesday for my family business’ annual end of year meeting, in person. What should I do you think?
    Would a signed document of “Call to Meeting” be enough to prove it’s a work related trip ?

    • TGLoyalty says:
      20 Dec20 December 10:46

      Your word will probably be enough if you are even stopped.

      • Bora says:
        20 Dec20 December 11:15

        Thanks for the answer. It’s strange how they mention the exemptions but don’t say how they police it. I don’t want to lose more money and my ticket on the way because of some missing info.

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