To clarify what constitutes a reasonable excuse to leave your home ...

[crambam]

Having been inspired by another thread which debunked the (imaginary) one hour exercise 'rule', here's the national police guidance document on excuses they will or won't accept from you for leaving your home: www.college.police.uk/What-we-do/COVID-19/Documents/What-constitutes-a-reasonable-excuse.pdf

It's good to see some common sense advice about country walks and picnics and I'm hoping this will be the end of finger-pointy photos of people relaxing on park benches being posted to social media!

Amen!

This is very useful, thanks!

I do think this bit is still ambiguous ...

"Exercising more than once per day [is reasinable]- the only relevant consideration is whether repeated exercise on the same day can be considered a ‘reasonable excuse’ for leaving home."

But, I can think of examples that would seem very reasonable to me, e.g. if you take your small children out for a walk in the morning and then want to go for a run by yourself later in the day. Or if you have a dog that needs to be walked twice a day.

Interesting. I will admit that DH has been getting ‘too much’ exercise by official guidelines. I’m not well enough at the moment to cope with our toddler solo (hyperemesis) but we still need to get out and do a little walk so no one goes mad. DH will then go out for a run individually at some point as clearly for a grown man who usually trains 20 hours per week, a 500m walk to see the horses is not sufficient. I feel a bit more confident that this is actually probably fine now.

Great. So that means loads of people will be heading for the lakes because they'll be walking for 2 hours plus, therefore a 90 minute drive there is allowed. Brilliant, just what we need.

People spending long periods of time relaxing on park benches is not considered reasonable. A quick sit down whilst on your exercise is.
The guidelines are still that you should limit your time away from home and stay as close to home as possible when you are out - with the understanding that some people have a reasonable excuse for being further away. The guidelines for those with specific health needs such as a learning disability say that and there is no reason why that wouldn't apply to the general population.

Just stay home.

Some people will also quite legitimately because they have specific health needs be spending more time being driven than they are walking.

@flummingbird I agree I don't think this was a good step they should of kept us how we were some people will take the piss no doubt and arrange to meet family/friends at beauty spots etc I really hope this doesn't set us backwards

This should have been put out 3 weeks ago.

It seems reasonable.

Why are some people so keen to be punitive to others?

I will admit that DH has been getting ‘too much’ exercise by official guidelines

Well no he hasn't because there are no limits on how much exercise you can take. You say he normally takes 20 hours of exercise a week, so it is reasonable for him to continue for that, if he can do it while socially distancing and not driving outside your local area. The London Marathon and similar events have been postponed until later in the year and people expecting to run will still want to train, so will need to take several long runs each week.

redwood that 'explanation' is not reasonable because if people are social distancing while exercising, they are not likely to be infecting 10 people per day. It is quite possible to exercise without even seeing 10 people and even if you do see some people, if they are a few metres away or more, the chances of infecting them will be virtually zero.

So that means loads of people will be heading for the lakes because they'll be walking for 2 hours plus, therefore a 90 minute drive there is allowed. Brilliant, just what we need

Flummingbird, I do think the guidance should have made it clear it's reasonable to drive to a quiet place for a walk, but not a busy place. If you live in a crowded town and your local streets and park are busy with people exercising I think it's reasonable to drive to a deserted beach or some quiet woodland, but not to a popular beauty spot where there will be many other people.

I don't think it's reasonable for people who live in the countryside to build a wall of disapproval around natural assets that belong to everyone.

If you're two hours away from the lake district etc, you're not staying local or restricting the time that you are out either, even if you do go out walking all day when you get there and that is a normal thing for you to do.

I can get to several national parks within an hour or so's drive of my house, but I don't think that this is reasonable as it's too far away, the places could be crowded if a lot of people did this, as demonstrated by how many people go on weekends when the weather is good etc.

I'm also fortunate that I have access to reasonable country walks from my doorstep so don't need to, unlike people who need to access quieter areas or avoid walking on narrow roads with no footpaths.

@redwoodmazza no. That's not healthy either for the majority or at least a decent proportion of the population

I’m not sure this guidance (which is actually intended to stop over zealous police officers misinterpreting what’s actually legal, not about the spirit of the social distancing guidelines) is all that helpful.

DH’s instant reaction was: oh, good. We can take the kids out. He’s fed up being in and wants to go out. And no amount of explaining that his 3 and 6 year old (the 6 year old will just whinge not walk) are not going to walk for any length of time sufficient to justify his 30 or so minute drive somewhere. Or that taking scooters for them means sticking to oaths, which will inevitably be full of people who’ve all driven to the bloody seaside/park/etc to take their kids out. And they’ll still just get tired and whinge in scooters anyway. Or that being in the park or at the seafront is unhelpful because they’ll just want to play on the beach/in the park/etc. And that’ll just be more complaining to listen to.

Tbh, I wouldn’t be surprised if the government briefing doesn’t have to address it head on to clarify that, while it’s not actually illegal to drive somewhere, it’s really not the bloody intention that everyone starts doing day trips all weekend. Especially when we see that translated into a big increase in car usage on that line graph they show us first every day.

What that does mean though is that I can drive 10 minutes to the local forest to walk the dogs (and see a maximum of 1 other person) as I do every other day of the year rather than having to walk them around the streets

I love this. I’m so sick of the ranting on Facebook.

I think it's pretty sensible. Helps us interpret the spirit of the law abs work out if we are being reasonable. It's hard because everyone has different circumstances. We don't all have the same exercise opportunities on our doorsteps. Would have liked an acknowledgement that for people with some disabilities a short walk to a bench, a longer sit and a short walk home is reasonable. I guessing they are trying to put off the all day sunbathers.