What I want to hear is that furniture shops can reopen , gyms and swimming pools can reopen and that I can visit friends and family not in my household . But thats me being selfish .
What I think we will hear is the first baby steps towards relaxing the stay at home advice , with the guidance about only exercising once being relaxed and maybe being able to visit non vulnerable friends or family outside your household .
I'm not sure about the private property bit necessarily. I don't see a problem with people meeting in a park or on a beach etc, however as you say, there needs to be an emphasis on physical distancing.
The only problem with that is I can then see these places getting overcrowded and it being difficult to maintain distancing ,especially if other social venues like pubs remain closed . Confining it to private property first and foremost means that people can go and visit friends and family in their homes without being at risk of not being able to socially distance from other people .
Seeing as the Government allowed for Car Repair & MOT services to remain open, this is something that isn't really within their control (although I suspect that withdrawing the Job Retention Scheme will focus minds and get employers who'd closed without being required to back to work)
Agreed , it was actually slightly annoying that almost all franchised dealers decided to close . I would have got my car serviced whilst it was not used as much and I suspect a lot of other people would . Instead due to the financial concerns this pandemic has caused I have made the decision I will be keeping this car until it is completely dead so I have foregone the manufacturer stamp and serviced it myself .
If MOT services are open why the need to extend MOT validities for 6 months?
Because even though they did not get ordered to do so plenty of MOT stations did close and there was public/motoring group pressure that lack of availbility would cause people to be forced off the road . I dont think that it would have made good headline news that all these key workers could no longer get to work because their nearest MOT garage was 50 miles away and fully booked .
Because there is no need. McDonalds, KFC etc were never told to close.
The big chains did it purely from a logistical perspective. They needed to take stock and review operations to find a way that suppliers, staff and customers could operate within social distancing guidelines, some are starting to reopen on a takeaway basis. Independent takeaways didn't need to do this on such a large scale so could remain open while maintaining their own social distancing system.
Yes a point I think a lot of people missed entirely , for the likes of these big chains it was easier to close for a period , have the government pay the wage bill whilst they took stock and brought in place modified operations . Some of their outlets are also on business/retail parks or in city centre locations where the majority of units have had to close so closure was only going to be a natural reaction to lack of footfall . Some smaller takeaways/cafes for example have done the same .
I'd like to see Garden Centres being told that due to widespread non compliance within the sector that they'll be the last thing to reopen (both to punish them for breaking lockdown and as a deterrent for other businesses thinking about reopening)
I cant say I agree , punish the whole sector for the actions of some businesses seems unreasonable, not to mention what difference would such a measure make to businesses that already have shown they have no issue ignoring the law ?