Shops & other venues that still insist on masks.

[Dent]

I expect they would claim to have been tested so they don’t need to (which is the usual excuse when caught out for such hypocrisy).

Their publicity never said "unless tested", so claiming that excuse would still be hypocrisy anyway.

 

[Class 33]

I know this strictly isn't on topic, as it's about buses rather than shops. But thought I would mention here that here in Bristol there are still some buses with automated PA announcements going off about we MUST wear a face mask and some seats taken out of use to aid social distancing!!! Even MONTHS now after these restrictions/laws ended!!! These are on the M1 Metrobuses. The first announcement says "You must wear a face covering for the entire duration of your journey. Some seats have been taken out of use to aid social distancing.". And there is also one that I heard just now that says "It is a legal requirement for you to wear a face covering for your entire journey. This must cover your nose and mouth. Failure to wear a face covering and you risk a £200 fine."!!!!!!! For crying out loud, why has this bus operator(Bristol Community Transport) not removed these offending out of date unjustified PA announcements about bloody face coverings and social distancing???!! Face covering laws were scrapped(again) 3 and a half months ago now, and social distancing was scrapped almost 10 months ago(in fact on BUSES social distancing was actually scrapped in May 2021 before the government officially scrapped it on 19th July!!!)!!! It's bad enough shops, trains or whatever put out PA announcements such as "Thank you for wearing a face covering, if you can. Out of courtesy to others.", but it's another matter when they put out PA announcements saying it is a legal requirement to wear face coverings and that failure to do so and we risk a £200 fine!!! Absolutely ridiculous and sheer laziness of businesses like these not removing these stupid PA announcements!

I feel very strongly about things like this. It effected my mental health all those months when mandatory face masks laws and social distancing restrictions were in force. But those restrictions are gone now. It still effects my mood and mental health when I hear any PA announcements about face coverings/masks and social distancing. All this nonsense must be stopped.

I am going to complain to Bristol Community Transport about this, asking that these PA announcements are swiftly removed from their Metrobuses as a matter urgency. And ask them if they can not do this, then just how can they justify keeping those PA announcements on their buses.

Update to that - I sent a letter to them last week complaining about those silly outdated unecessary face covering and social distancing automated PA announcements on their M1 buses, and request that their depot team remove them from their buses as a matter or urgency. Though I've not received a reply back from them yet, I have noticed that it appears they may have taken notice of what I said in my complaint letter. Have been on three M1 buses this week and pleasantly surprised not to hear any of those stupid PA announcements! Normally when I get on those buses I hear those announcements at least once during the journey. Not this week I haven't! So it looks like it may be worth making the effort to complain about outdated unjustified face covering/social distancing PA announcements/signage to some companies. I think the situation with these Bristol Community Transport buses is that they just hadn't bothered to remove these PA announcements from their buses months ago and previous to my complaint, nobody had bothered to point this out to them(not even any of their drivers!) and complain to them about it!

Sadly though with "maskivist" companies like LNER and GWR, complaining to them about their ongoing face covering PA announcements and signage probably won't have much effect, even though they should be well aware that about 98 to 99% of their passengers are NOT wearing face coverings! They don't like this and they don't like to admit it, so they'll continue to bore and annoy us for months and months yet with their stupid face coverings PA announcements and signage!

Just over 2 weeks ago I did email to GWR CEO Mark Hopwood to complain. Here is the reply I got from his Correspondence Administrator...

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your email to our Managing Director, Mark Hopwood. The matters you raise are now being investigated and we will be in touch with a full response as soon as possible.


Thank you for writing.


Kind regards


Kellyann Bunt

MD Correspondence Administrator | Great Western Railway

That was 2 weeks ago I got that reply. No further reply back yet. Hopefully when they said the matters I raise are now being investigated, they should get some feedback from train crew on various services across their network about the typical percentage of passengers wearing face coverings nowadays, and that hardly anyone is wearing them nowadays!

 

[Jamiescott1]

Since Friday the GWR 165s automated announcement now says that masks must be worn and to social distance as much as possible

 

[greyman42]

Happened to be on an LNER train over the weekend and it was all a bit surreal - multiple announcements on masks and all staff playing the game. Of course train was pretty full and saw maybe 2-3 passengers with them.

If they haven't changed now you do wonder if they will ever drop it.

I think you just got unlucky with that particular train manager. All the LNER services that i have used recently have had no mention of masks.

 

[Class 33]

Since Friday the GWR 165s automated announcement now says that masks must be worn and to social distance as much as possible

Jesus christ! GWR are going back in time to 2020! So they've changed their "Thank you for wearing a face covering, if you can. As a courtesy to others." to saying we MUST wear face coverings/masks and to social distance as much as possible!! Mandatory face covering laws were scrapped 4 months ago, and that social distancing nonsense was scrapped TEN MONTHS ago now!!! They really are taking the P aren't they!! Dear oh dear oh dear!! It's because of stupid PA announcements like these that I have been near enough avoiding travelling on GWR trains over the last few months or so. I did do a journey on GWR though from London Paddington-Bristol on Saturday, but that's because thanks to some people on this forum mentioning that the GWR Class 800's for some reason don't have any automated PA announcements about face coverings, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered booking that journey. Incidentally on that train, I'd say about 99% of passengers were not wearing face coverings! Also on my other journeys that day from Bristol-London with Megabus and London Victoria to Margate and back to London St. Pancras with South Eastern Trains(thankfully no PA announcements about face coverings on their trains!) also about about 99% of passengers not wearing face coverings! Near everyone have quite rightly ditched wearing silly pointless face masks! Any train or bus operators still peddling nonsense about wearing face coverings(and even the long abandoned social distancing!!) really needs to give it up immediately now.

Another journey on an M1 Metrobus today and no automated PA announcements were heard. Seems they really have responded to my request to get rid of those stupid PA announcements as a matter of urgency! Really glad that I sent a letter to complain about this and it actually worked! As for GWR though, well they're going to be a much tougher nut to crack by the looks of it!!!

 

[Drogba11CFC]

My workplace has finally made masks when away from desks a personal choice. All covid-related signs have been taken down.

 

[ainsworth74]

My workplace has finally made masks when away from desks a personal choice.

Good grief we've been at that stage for months! Commiserations!

 

[Hadders]

Recorded announcements on the 10:23 from Fenchurch Street yesterday was saying that face masks were compulsory.

 

[Fenchurch SP]

Recorded announcements on the 10:23 from Fenchurch Street yesterday was saying that face masks were compulsory.

I still feel a moment of dread when the automated announcement starts after departure on c2c services because it used to be followed by a man shouting at you to wear a face mask.

 

[martin2345uk]

When the hell are GPs going to get back to normal? Are some people's doctors now offering in person consultations again? Mine isn't, and when you phone there's this long recorded message about "keeping people safe" and how, if the doctors decide they will deign to see you in person, they will contact you to tell you "How to access the surgery in a safe manner", finishing off with "Stay alert, control the virus, save lives".

Just f*** off with this nonsense already and please get back to some semblance of normality!

 

[greyman42]

When the hell are GPs going to get back to normal? Are some people's doctors now offering in person consultations again? Mine isn't, and when you phone there's this long recorded message about "keeping people safe" and how, if the doctors decide they will deign to see you in person, they will contact you to tell you "How to access the surgery in a safe manner", finishing off with "Stay alert, control the virus, save lives".

Just f*** off with this nonsense already and please get back to some semblance of normality!

Agreed, and you would think that GPs have enough medical knowledge to know that covid is not a big deal.

 

[ExRes]

When the hell are GPs going to get back to normal? Are some people's doctors now offering in person consultations again? Mine isn't, and when you phone there's this long recorded message about "keeping people safe" and how, if the doctors decide they will deign to see you in person, they will contact you to tell you "How to access the surgery in a safe manner", finishing off with "Stay alert, control the virus, save lives".

Just f*** off with this nonsense already and please get back to some semblance of normality!

Why would GPs get off their backsides when they can get paid for letting nurses do all the work?

 

[bramling]

When the hell are GPs going to get back to normal? Are some people's doctors now offering in person consultations again? Mine isn't, and when you phone there's this long recorded message about "keeping people safe" and how, if the doctors decide they will deign to see you in person, they will contact you to tell you "How to access the surgery in a safe manner", finishing off with "Stay alert, control the virus, save lives".

Just f*** off with this nonsense already and please get back to some semblance of normality!

Every surgery in my town is the same.

Call up at 0800, have to sit in a queue for sometimes an hour or more, GP rings back and you get 2 mins if you’re lucky, with the phone straight down before you’ve even had the chance to say goodbye, in-person consultations pretty much non existent. Lots of local disgruntlement about it. It’s also noticeable that the receptionists have turned into utter rottweilers, no doubt gaining a sense of empowerment from the whole thing.

They’re more interested in masks than actually consulting patients.

Thank you NHS, you’re amazing.

 

[Bertone]

Every surgery in my town is the same.

Call up at 0800, have to sit in a queue for sometimes an hour or more, GP rings back and you get 2 mins if you’re lucky, with the phone straight down before you’ve even had the chance to say goodbye, in-person consultations pretty much non existent. Lots of local disgruntlement about it. It’s also noticeable that the receptionists have turned into utter rottweilers, no doubt gaining a sense of empowerment from the whole thing.

They’re more interested in masks than actually consulting patients.

Thank you NHS, you’re amazing.

Totally agree.
We can’t get in a queue initially and have to redial every 15 seconds until we get in a queue and are told we are number 10!
On a Monday (2 weeks ago) I initially rang at 08.00 got in the queue at 09.35 and was answered by receptionist at 10.05.
Asked for a telephone conversation with the Doctor which I received 5 days later on the Friday. Subsequently requested a face to face appointment which I was “granted” last Friday, a week later.
I dread having phone, life is too short for having to succumb to this situation.
All staff fully masked up and they request patients to do the same.
Unbelievable!

 

[kingston_toon]

When the hell are GPs going to get back to normal? Are some people's doctors now offering in person consultations again? Mine isn't, and when you phone there's this long recorded message about "keeping people safe" and how, if the doctors decide they will deign to see you in person, they will contact you to tell you "How to access the surgery in a safe manner", finishing off with "Stay alert, control the virus, save lives".

Just f*** off with this nonsense already and please get back to some semblance of normality!

Can confirm mine is (North London) though they have ditched the wonderful Patient Access system they used to use allowing you to select an appointment online at the time of your choosing with an online form which you fill in with all your symptoms and the surgery gets back to you in a day or two offering you either a telephone or in person consultation at the time of their choosing. Which invariably is no use from a work perspective so you have to call up and spend ages on hold until you can speak to reception to change it.

Signs everywhere that masks were required though like a few others I didn't wear one in the waiting room and no-one said anything. Doctor asked me to put one on though.

 

[EKing]

Travelled GWR return London to Bath Spa today, they still have their automated announcements saying "as a curtesy to others please wear a face covering", this annoys me intensely! And to make things worse, on the way back to london the train manager added in her little station departure speeches, "you must wear a face covering unless exempt". Had she come through to inspect my ticket I would have given her a piece of my mind, politely of course.

 

[Bikeman78]

Travelled GWR return London to Bath Spa today, they still have their automated announcements saying "as a curtesy to others please wear a face covering", this annoys me intensely! And to make things worse, on the way back to london the train manager added in her little station departure speeches, "you must wear a face covering unless exempt". Had she come through to inspect my ticket I would have given her a piece of my mind, politely of course.

I haven't heard any mention of masks on GWR trains for weeks. Even the guards that were keen on wearing them have given up. I have heard the announcement you mention at stations though. It really is time to switch it off. No one is interested any more.

 

[Class 33]

Travelled GWR return London to Bath Spa today, they still have their automated announcements saying "as a curtesy to others please wear a face covering", this annoys me intensely! And to make things worse, on the way back to london the train manager added in her little station departure speeches, "you must wear a face covering unless exempt". Had she come through to inspect my ticket I would have given her a piece of my mind, politely of course.

That's slightly surprising, as I understood it the GWR Class 800's don't feature these automated announcements. I was on a London-Bristol service the Saturday before last and thankfully no automated or live PA announcements about silly pointless face masks. Unless they have now installed these on those trains. Are you sure they were actually "As a courtesy to others, please wear a face covering." though? As the ones I'd previously heard on other GWR trains were "Thank you for wearing a face covering, if you can. As a courtesy to others.".

As for that train manger also adding her own face covering departure speaches on the PA system. I agree, if she came round to check my ticket I would have politely given her a peace of my mind. Reminding her that we haven't had to wear face coverings now since 21st January! And she has no right atall to say we "must wear face coverings unless exempt"!!!

From my recent travels on trains, I'd say about 98 to 99% of passengers are quite rightly not wearing silly face masks/coverings anymore! When are these train companies like GWR, LNER, and c2c going to get the message, and give it up with their stupid face coverings PA announcements and signage??!!

I'm still awaiting for a full reply from GWR CEO Mark Hopwood after their email from 3 weeks ago saying they were investigating the issues I raised! Surely they can see for themselves now that hardly anyone is wearing face coverings on their trains!! These silly announcements/signage aren't going to make them wear face coverings!!

 

[102 fan]

When the hell are GPs going to get back to normal? Are some people's doctors now offering in person consultations again? Mine isn't, and when you phone there's this long recorded message about "keeping people safe" and how, if the doctors decide they will deign to see you in person, they will contact you to tell you "How to access the surgery in a safe manner", finishing off with "Stay alert, control the virus, save lives".

Just f*** off with this nonsense already and please get back to some semblance of normality!

There are allegations that they're doing private work as well as claiming the National Health wage.

 

[island]

There are allegations that they're doing private work as well as claiming the National Health wage.

GPs are private businesses and do not "claim a National Health wage". They are paid by the NHS to deliver a service to certain parameters, and are entitled to do other work for other parties if they wish.

 

[EKing]

@Bikeman78 and @Class 33

Yes I expect the automated "As a curtesy to others..." mask announcements were only at the stations and not in the train itself. (@Class 33 , I might have got the wording slightly wrong).
However, I distinctly remember the train manager adding "you must wear a face covering unless exempt" to her live PA announcement because I felt so outraged by it. Maybe she was just one overzealous train manager who refuses to let go of covid, (since the TM on the journey out didnt include this nonsense).

I noticed the young trolly lady was wearing a mask, which I find irritating. Personally I think mask wearing is a form of company virtue signalling.

 

[172007]

Deleted.

I was thinking that announcements ongoing be changed to suggest wearing them when you have a sneezing cold / cough may be a good idea.

Upon reading some research it appears the East Asian practice of wearing masks when feeling unwell has no empirical evidence to back it up except that people in research that do wear a mask appear to be more hygienic in general.

 

[martin2345uk]

Have these other parts of the world eradicated the common cold via use of masks then…?

 

[MikeWM]

<stuff that was deleted, so deleting the quote out of courtesy...>

As I've said a number of times, which of these two is better public health advice?

- 'Catch it, bin it, kill it'
- 'Catch it in a piece of cloth, and then strap the cloth tightly to your face for the next few hours'

I know which I believe is better!

 

[172007]

Have these other parts of the world eradicated the common cold via use of masks then…?

Just amended my post as above whilst you posted.

Clearly even if they offered protection would never eradicate as there are many other ways to transmit the common cold through touch etc.

 

[Bikeman78]

GPs are private businesses and do not "claim a National Health wage". They are paid by the NHS to deliver a service to certain parameters, and are entitled to do other work for other parties if they wish.

I don't have a problem with GPs, or anyone else for that matter, earning extra money on the side. That's up to them. It's worth remembering that getting a GP appointment was an ordeal long before Covid. At any rate, it was ay my local surgery. What annoys me as well is the poor timekeeping. I'm not talking five minutes late, more like 20-30. I get that every patient is different so each consultation will take a different amount of time but when they are always so consistently running late, clearly each slot needs to be longer, or they need firebreaks every so often.

 

[102 fan]

GPs are private businesses and do not "claim a National Health wage". They are paid by the NHS to deliver a service to certain parameters, and are entitled to do other work for other parties if they wish.

And those parameters are serving the population that are in their area, not preferring better paid work over non private patients.

 

[island]

And those parameters are serving the population that are in their area, not preferring better paid work over non private patients.

There is no "preferring". They deliver what they are contracted and paid to deliver. If the NHS wants them to deliver more, or at different times, or exclusively, I am sure that could be negotiated.

 

[martin2345uk]

I don't have a problem with GPs, or anyone else for that matter, earning extra money on the side. That's up to them. It's worth remembering that getting a GP appointment was an ordeal long before Covid. At any rate, it was ay my local surgery. What annoys me as well is the poor timekeeping. I'm not talking five minutes late, more like 20-30. I get that every patient is different so each consultation will take a different amount of time but when they are always so consistently running late, clearly each slot needs to be longer, or they need firebreaks every so often.

Yeah the timekeeping is a real issue at the moment at my place - I had a phone appointment at 15:50 yesterday. at 17:00 I called the surgery to chase it up and the receptionist made it very clear I was being very impatient.

They finally called me at 18:45, with not a word of apology, and couldn't wait to get the call over with.

Just dreadful service.

 

[Freightmaster]

There is no "preferring". They deliver what they are contracted and paid to deliver. If the NHS wants them to deliver more, or at different times, or exclusively, I am sure that could be negotiated.

Why can't/won't the NHS mandate a return to face to face GP appointments in cases where the patient
is not happy with the concept of telephone 'consultations'?




MARK