Have I crossed a line?

[Lonewolf]

A short video showing my choice of venue where I walk my dogs. The Police questioned me as to why I had attended here and said I should be observing the social distancing advice.


Feel free to express an opinion and lets get a healthy debate going. Please read the description on the video.

https://youtu.be/OLCNiYQuQyI

[tapps]

what are the police complaining about, it's not as if it's an overcrowded area,look's miles from anywhere,i walk our dog across the field from where i live, there are also a few others doing the same thing.

[Burchy]

How far from home is that?

[Lonewolf]

It's a challenging time of that there is no doubt. It's also a time of uncertainty as to what the future holds for us all especially in the coming months. I have a huge degree of respect for anyone who is still working in a capacity which brings them into contact with other members of the public. This goes for our emergency services but also everyone else, your local shop keeper, postmen & women, taxi drivers etc, they are all doing their bit to keep the wheels of industry turning and to provide for themselves and their families.


However my dogs, one in particular needs a good run otherwise he would be bouncing off the walls!


Since Boris made his announcement almost two weeks ago now where he stated amongst other things you could only make essential journeys, go shopping as infrequently as possible and exercise once a day etc, his words have been adopted it would seem as law by virtually all of the Police Forces in England & Wales.


A number of Police Forces have been criticised, Derbyshire for their use of drones in The Peak District and North Yorkshire Police for setting up road blocks to clarify why people are using their vehicles. There has been much publicity on TV re the way various Police Forces are applying and interpreting the comments which Boris made. The Coronavirus Act went 'live' on the Thursday following Boris's announcement. However little attention seems to have been paid to it, rather the instructions which Boris referred to appear to have been taken as the law. The Chief Constable of Derbyshire has gone on record confirming the expectations of the Police are confusing and it has been a case of just get on with it and although mistakes will be made by Officers this is because they are on a very steep learning curve and nothing of this nature has ever had to be enforced or managed previously.


On Tuesday morning of this week upon arriving at The Moors a number of Officers were in attendance and questioning people as to why they were present in their vehicles. One such Officer spoke with me and questioned why I was in my car, how far I had travelled etc, the usual thing. The Officer confirmed that they were not going to give me a ticket but reiterated that the Government advice was that people did not drive to a location to exercise or they could run the risk of being fined. The Officer confirmed that it was not a breach of the new law to drive to a place of exercise, just a recommendation that you do not.


The fact is that you can drive a reasonable distance to exercise, a reasonable distance is open to interpretation but I would suggest that a ten minute drive is reasonable, driving to the coast would not be, or at least not from my house!
Likewise there is no power within the Coronavirus Act to set up road blocks to establish the reasons for peoples movements, the vehicle would have to be stopped under the RTA.


Ultimately the Officer told me to just carry on and go for my walk.


I am happy to forfeit riding my bike, I happy to limit my visits to the shops but taking the dogs to the Moors, it is good for them and good for my health too, both physical and mental. I do hope that people adhere to the 'rules' in a responsible way especially with the Bank Holiday approaching otherwise I have no doubts that a time will come where it will be an offence to drive to a location such as this and we may even be banished to our homes and not permitted to exercise outside.

[Lonewolf]

How far from home is that?

You didn't read the description in the video did ya, 10 minutes.

[Lonewolf]

This is the actual law. No mention that you cannot use a vehicle to drive to a place to exercise.


https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/regulation/6/made

[nobody]

.

[O.C.]

Surely this a question all about common sense, if the police see groups of people gathering anywhere, beauty spot included, then they are duty bound to 'have a word', I see in the video (2 seconds) that there are a few vehicles parked at the side of the road

If a mass gathering is taking place, for example in a public park, or other such area, then the potential for spreading any virus is obviously massively increased, if you are alone on the moors or some other area then I think it's going to nigh on impossible to spread anything to anyone

It's a very ,very difficult time for all of us, there's no rule book for dealing with this virus, we are all required to be sensible.  We walk our dog daily otherwise as Steve says he would be bouncing off the walls ---- CSS  (Cocker Spaniel Syndrome)    However we are fortunate as we live in a very rural environment and can walk a good few road miles without seeing anyone sometimes even no traffic, especially just now.

I think you have been sensible Steve and I think the Police officer did his job with a degree of common sense, as I said before this is uncharted territory and we are all learning, I can see why the police attended though given that there are a number of vehicles already parked up in a lay by

The behaviour of some, even medical advisors to the Scottish Gov't has been seen to be shocking

Keep walking your dogs, stay safe

[nightrider]

trouble is you get 3 cars there then 7 turn up then 20 ,the only way is to stop travel by car ,put a lead on the dog and go for a quick walk it wont be long before we are back to normal ,

[Rusty]

Roger has it ... its all about common sense.

Steve takes his dogs out and I have been out on the GS for a "self isolating ride" .. 40 miles around a bit of Sunny Sussex no contact with anyone and no stops etc .. there is no harm in that.

The very fact that the officer then told you to carry on Steve just shows how the majority of forces simply do not have the capacity to deal with anyone other than speaking with them or giving them a ticket ... refuse your details and a lengthy trip to the custody block ensues ... no Inspector is going to allow his sparce workforce to sit around in custody for hours dealing with someone who has been out for a walk.

It is once again down to individual perception and some just dont get it ... IMHO 

[nightrider]

And that is why its spreading ffs

[Lonewolf]

What has not particularly helped ease the likelihood of an escalation is the initial lack of action from supermarkets. Gradually our local Morrison's introduced control measures regarding the number of customers permitted into the store at any given time. Security guards do their best to control access, there are barriers by the entrance, screens for staff at their tills, spaces marked for customers to queue etc but this was slow at being implemented.


This is obviously just one example of which there are I am sure many others.

[O.C.]

It's a moving target Steve, with policy changes are being effected every day, no one knows how to accurately deal with this virus..... again I say common sense applies

Rusty.......Don't go out on your bike ...please,,,, any accidents will be dealt with by the already massively overstretched NHS

[Burchy]

You didn't read the description in the video did ya, 10 minutes.

There's nothing to read in the 19 second video that I can see

[O.C.]

There's nothing to read in the 19 second video that I can see

Yep, I looked as well .... nowt there Steve