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Tier 4 travel: Full legal wording now published, in force from 7am Sunday

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The Government has published the Statutory Instrument which pushed the Tier 4 regulations into UK law at 7am on Sunday.

The full legal text is here. As usual, you should ignore anything said by any Government representative yesterday and focus purely on what is written.

It is as I expected, because it is the same structure as used in November. There is no ban on travel per se for anyone living in Tier 4. There IS a ban on leaving your house, however, and so travelling the airport would be in breach of this unless it meets one of the exceptions.

Tier 4 travel: Full legal wording now published

As usual, you are allowed to travel abroad if you are planning to visit an estate agent or show home or view a residential property for sale or rent.

Unless you are planning to look at houses whilst away, you should have left your home in Tier 4 before 7am this morning.

Hotels in Tier 4 areas are allowed to remain open if they wish. Guests must be travelling for work or for one of the other reasons stated, such as moving house or to attend a medical appointment.

The regulations do not discuss travelling to/from Tier 4 areas to fly from Heathrow, Luton or London City (which are in Tier 4) but this is presumably covered in the earlier legislation to which this is an amendment. Gatwick is not in Tier 4.

Category

General

Comments (222)

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

  • Marie says:
    20 Dec20 December 10:01

    I am in Tier 2, and have a booked Eurostar train to France in a couple of days. Is the transit within the train station Kings Cross/St Pancras allowed for people traveling via Eurostar Internationally? Thanks

  • Catalan says:
    20 Dec20 December 10:42

    As well as the potential for Brexit to restrict travel, the Dutch have now decided to pull up the draw bridge! .

    “At 06.00 local time on 20 December a ban on flights carrying passengers from the United Kingdom will enter into force. This ban will remain in place until 1 January 2021 at the latest.”

    • Nick_C says:
      20 Dec20 December 13:04

      “Dutch have now decided to pull up the draw bridge”

      Also, the Belgians. Although technically, the Dutch they’ve pulled up the air bridge as ferries are still operating for now.

      Luckily, we can all still have day trips to Gibraltar. Lets spread our new British strain of Covid far and wide.

  • James says:
    20 Dec20 December 11:01

    Can I go abroad for a funeral/death bed visit? The law only talks about exemptions for leaving your house, not for going abroad, so do we just assume the ‘reasonable excuses’ and ‘permitted reasons’ are the same for going abroad?

  • Nick says:
    20 Dec20 December 11:02

    “ you should ignore anything said by any Government representative yesterday and focus purely on what is written”

    True to a point. But when does it become less about following the letter of the rules and more about the spirit of why we have them? There are technicalities I *could* use to go and see family at Christmas, but equally it’s abundantly clear that preventing mass movement of people out of T4 is what they’re trying to achieve (and for good reason, as a fair few will be carrying the virus around the country/world), so in reality I’m likely to be having Christmas on my own this year, horrible though that will be. At some point people just have to do the right thing.

    • QwertyKnowsBest says:
      20 Dec20 December 11:06

      Spot on Nick!

    • John says:
      20 Dec20 December 12:11

      If you cared about the spirit of the rules you would not have planned any trips over Christmas in the first place, even if it was legal to travel

      • Nick says:
        20 Dec20 December 12:18

        That’s exactly the point: I haven’t. And if more people did the same, we’d be out of this mess quicker.

        • Alan says:
          20 Dec20 December 13:53

          Agree, Nick. Not sure why the search for technicalities when the sentiment is so clear. I’ve not left the country since March and have nothing planned until mid June (and that’s on a redemption just in case).

    • Phil W says:
      20 Dec20 December 12:13

      Completely agree.

    • Lady London says:
      20 Dec20 December 13:05

      This is why I spent last night cancelling my travel to London which was to attend medical appointments.

      One problem could flare up and leave me isolated without access to treatment which could lead to much greater harm.

      But given the selfish and dirty way a sizeable minority was behaving in London I already had a bad feeling about returning to London even if medical needs really require it. Boris’s announcement, as he’s always been 2 weeks too late on everything, confirmed this.

      So back to hiding and living with pain and risk again…just because of people the government has let get away with selfish behaviour.

  • World Traveller says:
    20 Dec20 December 11:27

    TBH the whole thing is a shambles and much as we are being told the vaccine is on the horizon, there is no guarantee that it will work or get to everybody. You do the maths +- 65 million people needing 2 doses it will take 2 years at a min to vaccinate everybody. Also the new variant will probably be resistant to the vaccine, so what happens then …..

    • TGLoyalty says:
      20 Dec20 December 12:44

      Not everyone will get it. Plan is vulnerable plus offer to over 50’s only

      • James says:
        20 Dec20 December 13:20

        That’s a lie. It would only be true had you added ‘at first to your comment.

        • TGLoyalty says:
          20 Dec20 December 14:32

          It’s not a lie there was a plan laid out and it stopped at over 50’s. No one under 50 without a clinical vulnerability has been identified as yet in any plan.

          All 40m doses of the Pfizer vaccine will be used by group 7 (if everyone takes it up)

          • James says:
            20 Dec20 December 20:22

            No it doesn’t. You’re lieing again.

          • TGLoyalty says:
            21 Dec21 December 00:54

            Love to know the non vulnerable under 50’s plan. Just drop the link to it in here rather than being childish

          • TGLoyalty says:
            21 Dec21 December 01:06

            My source is the phase one plan only identify over 50’s plus those that are vulnerable. And a statement saying

            Prof Lim said: “We have not decided who else should be vaccinated beyond phase one. That’s not to say that they shouldn’t be vaccinated.

            We need more information on the vaccines, who they are good for and whether they protect against transmission or infection.”

            The health secretary, Matt Hancock, has previously said Covid vaccines would not be used in children.

            So it’s correct to say there’s no plan after phase 1 because there isn’t.

          • James says:
            21 Dec21 December 03:23

            Do you not see the contradiction in your own comments TG?… PHASE 1… so there will be a phase 2, etc etc.
            Just because they have not decided who will be priority in the later phases does not mean the vaccinations stop at those aged 50 and above – which is what you said. The government has clearly said it wants the population to be vaccinated and plans to do so. Please don’t use a quote that was an answer to a specific question to suggested otherwise.

            So in summary: you remain wrong, and yes, you still lied. And if I was the child you accuse me of, I’d say you’ve been owned – but I’m very much an adult, so I won’t.

  • World Traveller says:
    20 Dec20 December 11:28

    My attitude is people need to make their own judgements and not listen to the govt who obviously don’t have a clue what they are doing.

  • Arabella says:
    20 Dec20 December 11:41

    So is it a criminal offence to leave a tier 4 area you live in and go to a tier 3 area for a few days? Asking for a friend…..

    • Rob says:
      20 Dec20 December 12:31

      Tier 3 has nothing to do with it. You cannot leave home full stop unless it is for a reason on the list.

      • TGLoyalty says:
        20 Dec20 December 12:46

        going to visit someone in T3 isn’t a reasonable excuse.

        • abc says:
          20 Dec20 December 13:16

          It is if you are meeting them in a public outdoor place (and there is no-one else in the meeting).

          • TGLoyalty says:
            21 Dec21 December 00:56

            Well the press conference was written must not leave T4 without a valid excuse but looks like the SI doesn’t say that so you’re correct.

            Why the spirit vs the actual law is nonsense. Believe the law and not the bullshit.

    • Lady London says:
      20 Dec20 December 13:11

      very educational that someone is even asking that, and other examples.

      what part of “do not leave home’ do so many UK residents not understand ? especially when the new information has been explained, why.

      I’ve learned a lot on HfP since Covid started from these topics coming up andvam grateful to commenters for teaching me so much.

      • BuildTheWall says:
        20 Dec20 December 13:55

        It’s shameful that even well educated people are looking to actively flout the laws while blaming everybody else for the mess. Sure, the government is incompetent, but that’s not an excuse to voluntarily become a carrier for this virus.

  • susannah claire fancelli says:
    20 Dec20 December 12:05

    We are in Tier 4 and meant to be flying from Gatwick on Xmas Eve to St Lucia. Is there any technicality I can state that allows me to leave my home to get to Gatwick? Can I arrange to see one of villas at the hotel for a possible purchase?

    • Rob says:
      20 Dec20 December 12:29

      Yes, you can arrange to view property in St Lucia.

      • Jayne says:
        20 Dec20 December 12:34

        Shameful

        • Tony says:
          20 Dec20 December 12:39

          Yup.

        • pigeon says:
          20 Dec20 December 15:38

          The St Lucian authorities are entitled to make their own decisions about who they admit to their country, and for what purpose.

          • Jake says:
            20 Dec20 December 15:53

            And so are we here in the UK. I’m sure we”d have been equally happy to welcome people from China who abused loopholes and lied to get in. It’s a disgrace. The rules are there to help people who need them, not for people to pick through them trying to find how they can abuse them to fit their own needs. For shame.

      • Travel Strong says:
        20 Dec20 December 12:38

        Factual

      • memesweeper says:
        20 Dec20 December 13:05

        Not watertight. Your reason for leaving the home is to go on holiday, which is evidenced by booking the holiday long before booking the property viewing. A property viewing doesn’t take two weeks either.

      • Richard E says:
        20 Dec20 December 13:07

        Rob, I understand that you have chosen a purely factual approach to Covid reporting, which I have appreciated over the last 9 months. That is what you have done here (unless it was meant to be a tongue and cheek response – difficult to discern through text only).

        However, the original poster has asked for a “technicality” (ie a loophole) that will allow them to go on holiday and avoid the spirit of the rules.

        HfP is one of the top 500 most read websites in the UK (I believe) and articles /comments you post are in the public domain. You have just highlighted (and could be seen to be supporting) a loophole that will lead to more people spreading the new mutation of covid.

        My spouse is a doctor and is starting to vaccinate people for the virus on Monday. This is the biggest vaccination programme of all time and needs as much capacity as the NHS can muster. Please, please could people think about what they should be doing, and not asking about loopholes to test what they could be doing.

        • Jack says:
          20 Dec20 December 15:42

          Yada yada yada. Same old same old. Don’t go onto a travel website in a pandemic is my advice. Why not focus on supporting this alleged spouse.

          • James says:
            20 Dec20 December 20:24

            Why are you calling yourself Jack now, Josh? Still the same unpleasant troll.

          • John says:
            20 Dec20 December 22:18

            And why would a NHS worker be flying at all? There has been a climate emergency declared by many trusts in the past year, to fly = climate change denial.

        • pigeon says:
          20 Dec20 December 16:44

          Hopefully the vaccination programme is outsourced and taken as far away from the NHS as possible. Otherwise we’ll still be waiting for our vaccines in 2027.

          The fact is that just over 10% of NHS beds have covid patients in them. Very roughly I would therefore expect just over 10% of NHS staff to be treating them. What about the other 90%? Sure they’re doing other important work, but if the NHS really wanted to it could make a plan.

        • Chris Heyes says:
          20 Dec20 December 22:27

          Richard E, You need to remember this is a site that looks for and in most cases encourages HFP readers to use any loopholes that exist.
          As far as i’m aware Rob never actively promotes breaking the law regards anything Miles, or Card related.
          Covid is no different Rob is simply stating ways round any rules as he would with any miles/cards ect
          I have no doubt Rob would actually break the law but he is definitely not saying anybody should so his comments are justifiable
          (by break the law i mean leave his house and lie about his reason if stopped but wouldn’t we all, it’s easy to say essential shopping when it isn’t really essential or any other made up reason

      • Owen says:
        20 Dec20 December 18:58

        I don’t think its quite that straightforward actually, Rob.

        You’re right that paragraph (2)(f) of Schedule 3A makes provision for individuals to leave their homes to undertake activities in connection with the purchase, sale, letting or rental of a residential property.

        However, para (2) itself says: “Exception 1 is that it is *reasonably necessary* for the person concerned (“P”) to leave or be outside the place where P is living (“P’s home”)”.

        So you not only need to be leaving your house to view a property but it needs to be *reasonably necessary* for you to do so.

        I don’t know Susannah or her circumstances but it is unlikely to be reasonably necessary for her to be travelling to St Lucia to view property if she is only asking this question now. If it isn’t “reasonably necessary”, then even if she does view property in St Lucia, it is still unlawful to leave her house.

    • Nick_C says:
      20 Dec20 December 13:06

      You must really love St Lucia and its people if you are prepared to risk spreading the new highly infectious British strain of covid there.

      Life will never return to normal while people continue to act in a selfish manner.

      • Jonathan says:
        20 Dec20 December 15:55

        Travelling to a country with far lower healthcare capacity/head & which will be way down the pecking order for vaccines…

        • TGLoyalty says:
          20 Dec20 December 16:43

          Why should it be so far down the pecking order?

          All the vulnerable should be vaccinated worldwide before anyone else gets it. Or does everyone just become us and them again after all this?

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

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