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Bournemouth beach - “Major incident”

999 replies

BebeGlazer · 25/06/2020 15:07

The local police and council have now declared that Bournemouth beach is scene of “major incident” because people will not stay away. Overcrowding, littering, desperately dangerous parking.

www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18541911.bournemouth-beach-bcp-council-declares-major-incident/

Please, please, think kindly before travelling to small seaside towns at the moment. We cannot cope.

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21
Onestepup · 26/06/2020 09:39

Isn't it time to re-open public toilets, maybe with attendants and more frequent cleaning? Surely that's less of a problem than outdoor mess.

Yes, I know that ideally people wouldn't all visit the same beach. But unless there's actually a ban on visiting outdoor beauty spots (or anywhere else with no facilities), the problem will continue.

Obviously every human will need this facility, it isn't an optional extra like bringing your own food on a day out instead of visiting a shop at the destination. If toilets aren't available then maybe there should still be a limit on how far we can travel for leisure purposes.

jasjas1973 · 26/06/2020 09:57

According to a Bournemouth councillor, the toilets were open.

PrincessConsuelaVaginaHammock · 26/06/2020 09:58

@Onestepup

Isn't it time to re-open public toilets, maybe with attendants and more frequent cleaning? Surely that's less of a problem than outdoor mess.

Yes, I know that ideally people wouldn't all visit the same beach. But unless there's actually a ban on visiting outdoor beauty spots (or anywhere else with no facilities), the problem will continue.

Obviously every human will need this facility, it isn't an optional extra like bringing your own food on a day out instead of visiting a shop at the destination. If toilets aren't available then maybe there should still be a limit on how far we can travel for leisure purposes.

Mmm, this halfway house of people being legally permitted to visit but there only being limited or no toilet facilities makes al fresco pissing and shitting inevitable. Especially when the other available leisure options are still so restricted. In order to avoid it either you have to increase toilet access or prevent people from coming in the first place, which realistically requires a return to stricter lockdown.
Carycy · 26/06/2020 09:59

This is not happening in Spain where lockdown was much stricter

We don’t get as much beach weather as Spain. You can’t really compare.

PrincessConsuelaVaginaHammock · 26/06/2020 10:02

@jasjas1973

According to a Bournemouth councillor, the toilets were open.
Yeah but if you think how many people would've under normal circumstances had access to toilets in cafes they visited, that makes a difference. I suspect even if every bog in Bournemouth had been available to visitors yesterday there still wouldn't have been enough, with so many there, but again that's the halfway house impact kicking in.
Toilenstripes · 26/06/2020 10:06

@jasjas1973. I was wondering that as well. It’s embarrassing.

MorrisZapp · 26/06/2020 10:06

I was in LA once, staying at a hotel catering mainly to business travellers. There was a lovely swimming pool so I parked myself on a sunlounger, lathered up and read my magazine.

I got funny looks from other residents coming and going. To them, lying by a motel pool in September ('hasn't school gone back?!') was just a weird thing to do.

To me, coming from Scotland, if there's sunshine and a pool I'm going to lie down immediately.

So yes, Britain will always suffer from nonsense like this. It's the fault of the littering idiots of course, but you can't compare it to 'civilised' countries if those countries get long hot summers every year.

Laplayaz · 26/06/2020 10:07

I grew up in Bournemouth and all our family still live there though we live in London now. We were considering going to visit family soon and have a weekend at the beach but have now changed our mind!!!

One thing that would help is if they were able to open the Lidos here in London. It is absolutely sweltering and miserable not to be able to go for a swim in a hot city like London. I don't understand why they haven't - just close the changing rooms, have people arrive already in their swim gear and implement bookable, timed slots. I bet a good % of these idiots flocking to the beach would change their mind if they were able to go for a swim near where they live instead!! We are so lucky to have outdoor Lidos all over London, let's bloody use them.

LINABE · 26/06/2020 10:32

'jasjas1973' I couldn't agree more.

Jumblebumblemess · 26/06/2020 10:57

twitter.com/katie_mosses/status/1276398068179578880?s=20

The above was from a 1 hour volunteer beach clean at sandbanks. Who the fuck leaves used sanitary towels on the beach. Dirty bastards. Nappies, needles, laughing gas canisters all just left...... but it's ok as they have been locked up allegedly for months.

onlinelinda · 26/06/2020 11:17

What i struggle to understand is why a global pandemic changes people to make toileting, rubbish leaving, hostility to police, ambulance crew, litter pickers etc acceptable. I don’t recall all this being an issue on hot sunny days before the virus except perhaps on bank holidays when alcohol was involved.

This.

Smallsteps88 · 26/06/2020 11:22

Local residents don't own the area. People can come if they wish.

People keep saying this. They obviously don’t live in a place that attracts tourists and everything that brings because they clearly don’t get it. It isn’t about owning the place. It’s about having to live in the place whilst the crowds are there and deal with the detritus once the crowds leave.

CaptainMyCaptain · 26/06/2020 11:25

@jasjas1973

According to a Bournemouth councillor, the toilets were open.
She said people couldn't be bothered to queue so they just went on the grass in front of people's beach huts. Nice.
billysboy · 26/06/2020 11:30

they are a bit like some travellers , if they came ,did theyre thing and went without leaving a mess far less people would have a problem with their presence

SirVixofVixHall · 26/06/2020 11:34

Public toilets....read up on viral plume and how the virus can be sprayed over a large area in toilets when someone flushes.
Toilets ideally need to be cleaned after each person, which obviously wouldn’t happen, and anyone cleaning a public loo would need full PPE.

BankofNook · 26/06/2020 11:35

What i struggle to understand is why a global pandemic changes people to make toileting, rubbish leaving, hostility to police, ambulance crew, litter pickers etc acceptable. I don’t recall all this being an issue on hot sunny days before the virus

In hot sunny days before the virus all of the shops were open, pubs were open, there were museums, aquariums, softplays, attractions, hotels/B&Bs/holiday parks, cafes, restaurants, etc. So all the mass groups of people were more spread out, there were extra toilets available in cafes/pubs, venues had extra staff taken on to cover the additional work during the peak season and the peak would ebb and flow based on weekends, bank holidays, school holidays.

Yesterday (and throughout lockdown) there was a mass of people concentrated into one specific area - the beach - as there were no pubs, cafes, other attractions, etc to siphon any of them off elsewhere and spread out the concentration of visitors. No extra toilets as no venues open so only the public toilets available which are enough on their own to cope with that amount of people. Add in alcohol, heat, the emotional and mental fall out of lockdown, and you have a lot of hot, frustrated, bored people. Some of them will be nice people who wouldn't dream of shitting in a garden but unfortunately some of them aren't and when the usual amenities aren't available those people develop a "fuck it" mentality quickly followed by those who think "well if everyone else is doing it...".

It's not that tourist areas don't want people back, despite the negatives of extra waste and antisocial behaviour, it's that they don't want them back until the fscilties and infrastructure are in place to cope with them which wont be until 4th July at the earliest.

SirVixofVixHall · 26/06/2020 11:37

Agree with Smallsteps88
Also it can impinge on the parts that are owned. Friend found a man wondering around her field a few days ago, very much not on the public footpath, and rude when she (in a friendly way, she is very nice) told him where the path was for him to get back onto. This is pretty common, and can be frightening even not in a pandemic, now it is much more scary.

OldQueen1969 · 26/06/2020 11:42

Morning all.....

Just been checking the local rag and the warning has been issued by Hancock that he will, if necessary close beaches....

And that is what we don't want to happen, contrary to popular belief - locals and visitors punished equally for the actions of the anti-social.

Locals have explained over and over again that yesterday happened because people "forgot" that mass opening of facilities isn't till 4th July - not our choice - government mandate - and came with no forethought whatsoever and also lost their minds and sense of basic decency.

I have family in the licencing trade working in a very large pub right in the town centre. When the pubs open I am really concerned that a similar giddiness will lead to anti-social behaviour in pubs. I go to pubs myself and like a good night out myself in case anyone thinks I'm a joyless fun sponge, but if due to lockdown fever people can't enjoy themselves unless it is at the expense of others, I'll be very careful about where I go. Which is a shame because I have missed my friends who are bar owners and want to be able to support them as they get their businesses running again. If they have to spend on extra security on top of Covid measures it will become a zero sum game for them.

Right now it feels like being back at school where one person does something naughty and we all end up in detention......

mrpumblechook · 26/06/2020 11:49

And that is what we don't want to happen, contrary to popular belief - locals and visitors punished equally for the actions of the anti-social.

True but the antisocial were probably locals as well as visitors.

mencken · 26/06/2020 11:51

people read what they want to read - selective comprehension is endemic on MN and it isn't just here.

no-one noticed 'not until July 4'. No-one noticed '2 metres where possible'. The idiocy of 'drive as far as you like' was always going to produce this. Add the holy kickabout, (might as well open the grounds and get some revenue, they will all turn up anyway) hot sunny weather, cheap petrol, the skanky attitude of many ('no bin? I'll just litter') etc and you've got a mass fuckwit meeting.

we are never going to defeat this. We just have to learn to live with it.

Needmoresleep · 26/06/2020 11:53

I am not getting this “locals” thing. There are idiots everywhere.

When I went down last weekend to clear my late mother’s flat, I warned my neighbours in our small block in advance and offered to take whatever precautions people wanted, and if anyone in the block was shielding, I would stay away.

One replied saying not to worry. Two out of twelve had completely ignored lockdown, were having friends round and holding parties from the outset. Another then asked me about London. The assumption being that Covid19 was a London thing and not something relevant to Bournemouth.

I did not see a single person wearing a mask. A silly woman with an uncontrolled dog effectively walked straight into me when I was walking along the pavement, showing no awareness of my space. I politely said “two meters”. She angrily replied “It’s all about to change.”

Most people I know in Bournemouth rarely go to the.beach. Or only on the hottest days. They will blame visitors if CV spreads. Nothing todo with their neighbours, not wearing masks in the supermarket, or maintaining social distance on pavements. Obviously.

OldQueen1969 · 26/06/2020 11:55

@mrpumblechook

And I didn't say otherwise.......nowhere is immune from dickheads sadly.

Lardlizard · 26/06/2020 12:02

Hancock does not have the power to close the beaches ! How ridiculous

OldQueen1969 · 26/06/2020 12:10

www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18543744.bournemouth-beach-vikki-slade-tobias-gorman-condemn-unacceptable-behaviour/

According to the text of this article the government can.

BankofNook · 26/06/2020 12:13

I did not see a single person wearing a mask

They're not mandatory except on public transport and in medical settings and information is mixed on their effectiveness at controlling the spread.

maintaining social distance on pavements

Unless she was licking you or coughing in your face, a fleeting encounter on a pavement is not enough to infect you.

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