Additional retailers to reopen from June 15th

[Iskra]

It's very busy at Rotherham Parkgate RP this morning! I'm not braving Meadowhall today...

 

[westv]

It didn't so much break, it just wasn't needed. Being very much a local store (for local people) dropping by for a pint of milk shouldn't entail wandering up and down every isle just to appease some civil servant's idea of a safety measure.

Civil servants don't run shops.

 

[trebor79]

M&S in Horsham would be very difficult to put a practical one way system in, because there is only one way in and out*, so you would either have to have those coming in and those leaving passing within 2m, or have staff on the door only letting a person in when the way ahead is clear.

That's exactly what is happening at my local Sainbury's.

 

[Bantamzen]

Civil servants don't run shops.

True but they do make the guidelines that lead to some of the stranger decisions being made by shops...

 

[Andyh82]

There were always going to massive queues today, I could have predicted that it would be Primark leading the way

 

[Starmill]

This is not a criticism of any individual but there is a rather unpleasant undercurrent on this Forum, and elsewhere, that seems to respond to any suggestion, request or instruction to reduce the risk of transmission to others by looking for loopholes or criticising the efforts being made.

There is a horrible disease out there and people are trying to minimise its impact. You can be part of the solution or part of the problem.

Some of us have been trying to explain that this is a community effort from day one. Unfortunately most of the complaints (and this thread is absolutely filled with complaints!) about the measures intended to allow us to restore more economic activity are mainly from people thinking of little but themselves.

Indeed it's actually really noticeable how many more complaints there have been on here about retailers' policy and face coverings on public transport than about the government's orders to stay in your home. Shows people's priorities I guess.

 

[Starmill]

Legal basis = almost certainly not, on a public street. Shopping malls and individual shops a different matter of course: you can be required to leave if told to by the owner or their agent, no reason given, though you might well have a case for redress if it was done on the basis of your race, sex, infirmity etc, but that would have to wait. The problem is if the person berating you decides to call the police for assistance and you have to explain your side of it to a police officer (a) not in command of the facts and (b) who might take against you as a 'troublemaker' for challenging the authority of the bossy individual.

Indeed. And most ordinary people going about their business (i.e. not intending to commit crime) have little or no resolve to withstand the persuasive powers of a police officer. If they give you a clear instruction which you're convinced it is unlawful for them to do, you're also in a real bind, practically speaking.

 

[Llanigraham]

It didn't so much break, it just wasn't needed. Being very much a local store (for local people) dropping by for a pint of milk shouldn't entail wandering up and down every isle just to appease some civil servant's idea of a safety measure.

I can find no evidence anywhere that it was a Civil Servant that impossed a one way system in any stores.
We have 2 small supermarkets in this town; both intriduced a simple one way system quite soon and initially a few people found it difficult but since then it has worked well, everyone seems to be happy and the shops are sensibly busy.
I do wonder whether some people are purposely trying to not make it work.

 

[Llanigraham]

True but they do make the guidelines that lead to some of the stranger decisions being made by shops...

So the decision about how a shop was going to deal with it is totally their's and nothing to do with the Civil Service at all!

 

[MikeWM]

Maybe we should have a separate thread for Sweden? It keeps on cropping up in different threads, I think it deserves its own.


I've just had a quick look at Ely city centre, out of interest. I'd say about 50%-60% of the shops that could have opened today, have done so. Bit of a mixed bag really.

If you ignore the hazard tape everywhere and zillions of signs, a lot of places looked to be operating fairly as before. Some places had queues (Sports Direct had the longest, for whatever reason), others didn't.

A few places looked less pleasant. One female clothing store had a woman at the door forcing hand sanitiser on people and then ordering them to follow the one-way system. If she's spoken to me in the tone of voice she was using, I'd have told her where to stick her shop

Busiest I've seen Ely for a while - but this is Ely, so that's very relative! More mask-wearing than I've seen so far, but still only maybe 10-15%.