The beach down south/bbc news tonight

[Milssofadoesntreallyfit]

I'm mean, yes I want things back to normal BUT I am still concerned in case we get a spike again. I agree we all need to be careful BUT clearly all these people just thought F* it.
All we've put up with so far with lock down and it seems every one on the beach in question decided to piss it into the wind.

If I were the government I would think I couldn't trust people to use sense at all and put lockdown back in place until either a vaccination or until people realised that if they want lockdown relaxed then they need to prove they can be trusted to show a bit of caution.

Rant over.

I don't think it is surprising although it looked grim. People have been shut at home, they are now not working, kids are off, it is hot. It is not unreasonable to want to go to the beach. Problem is everyone else has the same thought.

I live in Bournemouth, 5 minutes from Sandbanks. It is absolutely grim. Not even so much the beaches but the traffic from it all due to assholes dumping cars wherever and preventing vehicles from getting through and causing literal gridlock with no one able to go anywhere. People are using wherever they find as toilets. There are masses of fights breaking out. Personally, as a resident, I'm staying in and ranting at the hour school run took in this heat!

Social distancing is still meant to be 2m even after 4th July, 1m+ is only meant to be used if 2m is not possible. Also the + means you need additional measures like masks, can’t imagine many people were wearing masks on the beach.

And we are used to hot bank holiday levels of busy, we get it several times a year but this is beyond anything I've ever seen.

I think the reason why a second wave hasn't hit us yet is because the virus weakens during hot, UV high weather. So whatever people do now, may not cause a peak. Yet. The second wave might come closer to autumn, when the weather cools down again.

They’re doing exactly what the government expected them to do. Herd immunity has always been their plan.

Yes there is evidence that the virus dies in the sunlight due to UV. So maybe it is safe to be on a packed beach?!

tired It will save on the vaccine costs.

It’s clear that people just aren’t scared of the virus anymore, and the governments have given up / got bored for efforts to manage its spread.

Thousands and thousands of Liverpool fans packed outside Anfield last night too. Obviously I can understand why they wanted to celebrate, but it’s only been 3.5 months since everyone was up in arms about Cheltenham etc going ahead. People have very short memories it seems.

young Or perhaps they have worked out their chances of actually dying and figured they are pretty safe?

I live right by the beach and was absolutely shocked when I walked down there yesterday. I have never seen it as busy as that in the 15 years I’ve lived here. It was also a very different crowd than usual, I didn’t recognise anyone as I usually do. Huge groups of people, rubbish everywhere, cars parked on all the pavements bumper to bumper and music being played every 10 metres or so so a clash of noise. Someone even turned up with a generator and decks. I completely understand why people want to be here, I’ve been so grateful for the sea over lockdown but I kind of felt like everyone was stamping through my back garden. Obviously I know it’s not mine and everyone has the right to visit but the mess that was left and the chaos was so upsetting. My husband and daughter go down every morning with litter pickers and it seems more and more locals are beginning to do the same thing as the street cleaners just can’t keep up with the demand.

I live by the sea, it's busier than I've ever known it, we can't enjoy our local area. People are leaving rubbish everywhere, pissing on driveways of homes right by the beach, there were several fights, lots of drinking, the coastguard have been rushed off their feet with idiots who don't know water safety or anything about tides. It's horrendous.

@Fudgefeet definitely more local clear up crews about! Unfortunately the beach hut cafe near steamer point have removed their litter picking equipment for people to use due to COVID but loads of locally organised litter picks have been going on!

Buttons or Bows That is silly and selfish (Speaking as someone who is a few miles from beach!) and lives in Bournemouth.I appreciate how lucky I am as I grew up in London ,and a day out was a trip to Southend and it took all day to get there as no M25 then ! Many people are longing for a day out to the Seaside ,and their DC are wanting to play and have a nice day out.The Car parks were full ,and people parking in the road as well! Maybe when hotels are up and running there will be more space as other things may open (Oceanarium) Restaurants and so on.There is no "them and us" FFS No one owns the beaches!

The R went up to 1.6 near here two weeks after may bank holiday and that was when people weren't meant to be on the beaches (but were)

@Fudgefeet I agree, it's definitely not the usual sort of crowd we get and is particularly selfish.

People have been cooped up for months, lots of people off work, heat wave, unclear and hypocritical leadership from the government... I'm not surprised this is happening. We need to find some middle ground in terms of sensible risk - covid is not going to just vanish come September, but it's not human nature to isolate ourselves for a long period of time.

@BogRollBOGOF

The absence of other leisure activities and having to day trip rather than stay in accommodation has significantly aggravated the numbers congregating and traffic congestion. Plus easing lock down means more people working and less people hanging around bored of 3 months of groundhog day.

The less you let people do, the more they will turn up in the same permitted cluster of locations.

(No I'm not going to a beach until I can stay near one because I wouldn't get pleasure from hours of travel and congestion to end up on a packed beach with few facilities, but I can see why this is happening).

This kind of behaviour doesn't seem to have happened in other countries like Spain, France and Italy where more people live in flats and the lockdown has been stricter.

What wasn't reported was that when people couldn't park at Bournemouth and all the places where you shouldn't park were taken. They went over the chain ferry to Studland beach.
The chain ferry goes between Studland and sandbanks could not unload vehicles on the sandbanks side due to the volume of traffic and illegally parked cars on that side.
Although Studland wasn't that much better off. Car parks full and cars parked on both sides of the road and blocking emergency fire entrances. There are sand dunes with the grasses on at studland as well as the heathland which are high risk fire areas.
So delays of 2-4 hours happened.
I have never in 22 years of living here known that to happen before. It doesn't even happen in the height of summer!

So people questioning if it's fake news no it's not. Yes camera angles will show a distorted view, but the sheer volume of cars and disruption it caused can't be argued.

The amount of disrespect being shown to the area was disgraceful. People trying to camp on beaches and other places as well as very dangerous places (tbh that has happened throughout lockdown)
Yes I know people have been stuck in and it's been hot but that's no reason for common sense to go out the window.

The rubbish left around is plain disgusting. It's a eye opener for what people think is acceptable to leave on a beach! Again this is a lot worse than at the height of summer.
The only thing you should ever leave are your footprints.

I wonder if all these people going to beaches are keeping their kids off school because they dont think it's safe! Hypocritical!!

I’m waiting on the thread calling all the Liverpool supporters idiots for last night because there should be one

I think the number people on the beach is shameful, disgusting, irresponsible.

No thought for the locals at all. COVID isn't the only problem, there's the noise, the disruption, the lack of regard for law and order, cars parked randomly including the middle of roundabouts, the dreadful litter that was left.

Even if you believe in herd immunity and believe everyone now should be able to go out to the beach, why the litter?? Who on earth thinks it's OK to dump all that on the beach and go away and leave it to others to clear up? For that reason alone I think the beaches should be locked down again, until people can act more responsibly.

And presumably all these people are out and about because they're on furlough and the government is paying them....??

Spare a thought for those of us living near Glastonbury who have to put up with that kind of anti-social behaviour every year. Not this year though, it seems they've all gone to the beach as they can't come here.

Interested to hear from any beach day trippers on here. I won’t go far from home until toilets aren’t open. The idea of having to poo in public is for me the last bastion of civilisation. How did you manage, what was your rationale.

I’m working and kids back in school. So no beach/ shopping or anything for me.

But for many? No school + furlough + people being locked up + nothing else open + hot day = what happened. It’s no surprise.

I’d brace yerselfs and pour a stiff drink for July 4th....especially if it ends up being warm.

I am avoiding the beaches like the plague (couldn’t imagine anything worse) and won’t be near a pub in the first few weeks of reopening.

But am I judging/ flinging my hands up in outrage? No. It was going to happen, I expected nothing less. If mnetters were running the country I swear we wouldn’t come out of our houses for 18 months!