Could we see a return to "essential travel only" messaging?

[Huntergreed]

I just saw on the Scottish Government website, the permitted list of “essential travel” reasons:

Exceptions
This is a list of limited exceptions from the guidance not to travel into or out of Level 3 and 4 local authority areas, or to or from other parts of the UK. Please do not see these as loopholes. It is important for everyone’s safety that we all minimise such travel as much as possible.

• travel for work, or provide voluntary or charitable services, but only where that cannot be done from your home
• travel to school, college, or university where teaching is not provided remotely
• (To and from Level 3 areas but not Level 4) travel for under 18s sport
• travel for essential shopping only where it is not possible in your local authority area – you should use on-line shopping or shops, banks and other services in your local area wherever you can
• travel for healthcare, social care, childcare and other essential services, including recycling, but only if they are not available in your local area
• travel to provide care or assistance to a vulnerable person
• travel for shared parenting or travel between the two parts of an extended household
• travel to meet a legal obligation, including attending court or satisfying bail conditions, or to participate in legal proceedings
• travel for essential animal welfare reasons, such as feeding a horse or going to a vet
• local outdoor informal exercise such as walking, cycling, golf, or running (in groups of up to 6 people from no more than 2 households) that starts and finishes at the same place
• travel locally (within around 5 miles of your local authority area) to reach a place to take exercise outdoors
• travel for weddings, civil partnership registrations, funerals and other “life events” (such as bar mitzvahs and christenings)
• if you are a minister of religion or worship leader travel to your place of worship
• (to or from Level 3 areas, but not Level 4) travel to your normal place of worship
• travel to give blood at a Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service collection session
• travel to transit through Level 3 and 4 areas by road or public transport if your journey begins and ends outside such an area
• travel to move house
• travel to avoid injury, illness or to escape a risk of harm

(https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-travel-and-transport/)

Good luck enforcing this

 

[greyman42]

I just saw on the Scottish Government website, the permitted list of “essential travel” reasons:


(https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-travel-and-transport/)

Good luck enforcing this

I wonder if the last line includes mental illness?

 

[trainophile]

I see they are permitting golf, unlike in England.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

local outdoor informal exercise such as walking, cycling, golf, or running (in groups of up to 6 people from no more than 2 households) that starts and finishes at the same place

So linear walks, cycling or running is out of the question then?

 

[CaptainHaddock]

So linear walks, cycling or running is out of the question then?

Depends how you interpret it, I suppose. No reason why you couldn't cycle from your home to a station 40 or 50 miles away and then get the train back; technically you finish in the same place.

 

[Mag_seven]

I saw three BTP officers in discussion with someone outside our local station today - they appeared to be giving the person advice about "acceptable reasons for travel". Read into that what you will!

 

[MrTurbostar170]

Had a leisure journey today. Saw BTP officers at one station, didn't say a word to me.

The trains really are much busier than they were back in March/April.

 

[Horizon22]

I saw three BTP officers in discussion with someone outside our local station today - they appeared to be giving the person advice about "acceptable reasons for travel". Read into that what you will!

I've definitely see BTP around - but they seem to just be wondering around patrolling and there's little / no challenging going on. In terms of passenger number on stations, it seems to be only a very slight decrease in passenger numbers.

 

[LowLevel]

BTP officers patrolled my train while it was stood at a large station earlier. They politely interrupted my giving a lad (an equally polite) telling off for walking past two ticket offices and a raft of machines without bothering to pay to ask if he had a face covering, he said he was exempt, they apologised for interrupting and went on their way. Seemed fine to me.

 

[Horizon22]

BTP officers patrolled my train while it was stood at a large station earlier. They politely interrupted my giving a lad (an equally polite) telling off for walking past two ticket offices and a raft of machines without bothering to pay to ask if he had a face covering, he said he was exempt, they apologised for interrupting and went on their way. Seemed fine to me.

Indeed. Anyone can say they're exempt and that's the end of the matter. The BTP I don't think have much power to push the matter further other than ask politely because there's no assumptions that can be made about exemptions. Even though you know its highly likely they don't.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Had a leisure journey today. Saw BTP officers at one station, didn't say a word to me.

The trains really are much busier than they were back in March/April.

I'd be gravely concerned if we'd gone back to late-March/April/May passenger numbers.

Nobody wants to be squashed in like sardines at any time but empty trains are equally concerning.

 

[island]

On the official government website the advice yesterday as posted by _toommm_ was "You can travel to.....exercise, if you need to make a short journey to do so" but in the last day or so the wording has changed to "You can travel..... to spend time or exercise outdoors - this should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space)"

Happily, the above quote bears no resemblance to the actual law (SI 2020/1200) which makes no requirement to exercise etc. ”locally”.

I see they are permitting golf, unlike in England.

One expects that would not go down well with the Scots!

 

[greyman42]

I'd be gravely concerned if we'd gone back to late-March/April/May passenger numbers.

Nobody wants to be squashed in like sardines at any time but empty trains are equally concerning.

Going by my experiences, LNER has not made much of a recovery from the first lockdown.

 

[Jamesrob637]

The motorways around Manchester were busy today when I went to look (outside only) at a potential replacement for my 12 year old Golf. Oldham where the car is located was very busy but there are temporary lights on Shaw Road which never helps.

 

[221129]

Going by my experiences, LNER has not made much of a recovery from the first lockdown.

The complete opposite of my experiences.

 

[Ianno87]

The complete opposite of my experiences.

Agreed. I've seen (and been on) quite a few very well-loaded trains.

 

[lkpridgeon]

EMR are at it at Sheffield station. An announcement saying "only travel if absolutely necessary for essential purposes such as picking up medicine, only travel by train as a last resort"

 

[Mag_seven]

EMR are at it at Sheffield station. An announcement saying "only travel if absolutely necessary for essential purposes such as picking up medicine, only travel by train as a last resort"

Fortunately their website is not so hostile.


Coronavirus Travel Information | EMR | East Midlands Railway

We will continue to run our current timetable throughout the new COVID Alert Level period (5th November - 2nd December) and continue to enact our enhanced cleaning regimes and social distancing policies so that when you travel by train, you can travel with confidence.

Some relaxations to change of journey fees for pre-purchased 'Advance' Tickets have been implemented. See below for more details.

 

[DB]

Fortunately their website is not so hostile.


Coronavirus Travel Information | EMR | East Midlands Railway

For years Sheffield station has been notorious for jobsworth announcements. I once complained because they were playing the wet platforms announcement on the minute, every minute (it hadn't rained for hours either and apart from a few puddles on the platform ends had dried out). Of course, the customer service desk gave the expected 'health and safety, we might get sued) excuse and refused to turn it off or even reduce the frequency.

 

[james60059]

LNWR at Nuneaton as well (at the bottom), regarding the temporary 1 tp2h between NUN and LMS.

 

[Mojo]

Just been out making a journey to buy something and almost all of the variable message signs on the motorway that weren’t providing incident information were displaying the message

STAY HOME
ESSENTIAL
TRAVEL ONLY

The smaller signs with only two lines were not including the STAY HOME part of the message.

You can see this for yourself on the Highways England traffic map.

 

[Mag_seven]

LNWR at Nuneaton as well (at the bottom), regarding the temporary 1 tp2h between NUN and LMS.

The LNWR website does not say "Essential Travel Only".

Coronavirus: Travel Advice | London Northwestern Railway

Travel with confidence

To help you travel with confidence we’re running as many trains as we can with as many carriages as possible to maximise space on board.

We’ve stepped up our cleaning onboard and at stations, using the latest antiviral equipment and techniques. We recommend travelling at quieter times if you can and buying your tickets online in advance. You can check your train times here.

Remember, when travelling with us you should maintain social distancing whenever possible. By law you must wear a face covering at all times - some exemptions apply.

Specific travel advice may apply in your area – check the latest Government advice here and download the NHS COVID-19 app here.

Looks like someone has decided to write down their interpretation of what is allowed on that notice.

 

[trainophile]

Cross Country put a post on Twitter this morning strongly advising that they were operating services to Wales for essential travel only. Sorry not sure how to copy a Twitter post onto here, will have a try...

 

[Merle Haggard]

Just been out making a journey to buy something and almost all of the variable message signs on the motorway that weren’t providing incident information were displaying the message

STAY HOME
ESSENTIAL
TRAVEL ONLY

The smaller signs with only two lines were not including the STAY HOME part of the message.

You can see this for yourself on the Highways England traffic map.

These were displayed during the first lockdown.
Also, approaching service areas, there was a sign that said something like 'Service area for essential travellers only' in capitals.
When the lockdown was lifted, the signs were changed, and then said something like 'Don't drive tired, stop at a service area'.
Almost like the service area operators demanded a message to help to replace the business they'd lost...

 

[Watershed]

For years Sheffield station has been notorious for jobsworth announcements. I once complained because they were playing the wet platforms announcement on the minute, every minute (it hadn't rained for hours either and apart from a few puddles on the platform ends had dried out). Of course, the customer service desk gave the expected 'health and safety, we might get sued) excuse and refused to turn it off or even reduce the frequency.

Unfortunately even some of the "new recruits" (relatively speaking - I'm talking about people who seem unlikely to be old enough to have worked there in BR days) seem to have picked up this attitude. Recently heard one making some awfully shouty PA announcements regarding a service that was splitting at the station. Quite noticeable how different members of staff treat similar situations very differently - this particular approach was certainly not very customer friendly!

 

[Mag_seven]

For years Sheffield station has been notorious for jobsworth announcements. I once complained because they were playing the wet platforms announcement on the minute, every minute (it hadn't rained for hours either and apart from a few puddles on the platform ends had dried out). Of course, the customer service desk gave the expected 'health and safety, we might get sued) excuse and refused to turn it off or even reduce the frequency.

Unfortunately even some of the "new recruits" (relatively speaking - I'm talking about people who seem unlikely to be old enough to have worked there in BR days) seem to have picked up this attitude. Recently heard one making some awfully shouty PA announcements regarding a service that was splitting at the station. Quite noticeable how different members of staff treat similar situations very differently - this particular approach was certainly not very customer friendly!

Maybe Sheffield should be twinned with Blackpool North.

 

[DB]

Maybe Sheffield should be twinned with Blackpool North.

It's not that bad! The officiousness at Sheffield seems to be limited to announcements. Incidentally, Derby was similar for a while (don't know whether it still is - not been there for ages).

 

[Mojo]

These were displayed during the first lockdown.
Also, approaching service areas, there was a sign that said something like 'Service area for essential travellers only' in capitals.
When the lockdown was lifted, the signs were changed, and then said something like 'Don't drive tired, stop at a service area'.
Almost like the service area operators demanded a message to help to replace the business they'd lost...

And indeed well after the first lockdown. I remember seeing one of these signs on the A40 in early June on my way back from a garden centre...

 

[bramling]

Just been out making a journey to buy something and almost all of the variable message signs on the motorway that weren’t providing incident information were displaying the message

STAY HOME
ESSENTIAL
TRAVEL ONLY

The smaller signs with only two lines were not including the STAY HOME part of the message.

You can see this for yourself on the Highways England traffic map.

Same on my journey out of London earlier this evening.

Traffic levels were marginally down on normal, but not massively so. Bizarrely at 0600 yesterday (Saturday) morning my journey into London by car was quite noticeably *busier* than normal, which I can’t really fathom.

 

[Hadders]

Just been out making a journey to buy something and almost all of the variable message signs on the motorway that weren’t providing incident information were displaying the message

STAY HOME
ESSENTIAL
TRAVEL ONLY

The smaller signs with only two lines were not including the STAY HOME part of the message.

You can see this for yourself on the Highways England traffic map.

These messages are hardly having an impact, given how busy the roads are at present.