When you are on the border of tier 3/4

[estatenonestate]

Our post code is xx8 and as such we are tier 2. Xx7 is tier 4 as it is on the edge of the borough that is in tier 4. I ordered an item from Argos last night to my local Argos and went and picked it up today and nipped into Sainsbury for some groceries. Only realised when I got home that I had gone from tier 2 to tier 4. About a 5 mins drive. Should I have ordered for the Argos 30 mins away and drove through the tier 4 to get to the other town? So much ambiguity. To add to it, in laws live on edge of borough that is now in tier 4. The news said that town xxxx is in tier 4 but the nhs app is actually saying anyone within the borough of xxxx which has several other towns and villages and my in laws are in one of these towns and we are in the next village over which happens to fall into a different borough. All a bit bonkers. They have seen or done anything for months. And were planning to drive the 8 mins to our house on Friday. All a bit crap really

*haven't seen anyone or been anywhere

IMHO a shorter journey is a better one.

The virus can't tell where the boundaries are. You're best staying local really.

I have a friend whose garden is tier 4 and house is tier 2. Couldn't make it up

I think in your situation, you use your common sense.

I live on the border of tiers 4, 3 & 2. My daughter's nursery is tier 4. My parents ( who provide child care on the days she can't go to nursery) are in tier 2 and my work (in a hospital - can't work from home) is in tier 3. My nearest supermarket is in tier 3, my GP surgery and chemist are in tier 4. I'm in and out of the the tiers constantly but only going a couple of miles. It's mad.

Sounds like you live near me! Although I'm xx8 tier 4 but my sister is xx7 tier 2 even though they have a lot more cases per 100k than I do. If they want to shop they have to come into tier 4 or drive miles. It's stupid.

Yeah. I'm in tier 4. I can walk into tier 2. A local village is split down the middle. It's nonsensical really.

It is difficult, I am tier two but about three to four miles from tier 4. Luckily the nearest supermarket etc is in tier 2

A lady I know and keep in touch with, has a different tier at the end of her road. She has to use public transport to go food shopping. If she shops in her tier she has to change buses, but only one bus to the nearest supermarket which is a different tier. She is in her 70's and only goes out for food.
She lives too far away from me for me to do it for her and has no internet so can not shop online.

I know everyone gets flamed on here for breaking the rules but in laws literally live 5 mins away and have been on their own for months. It is completely illogical that they can't come up the road for Xmas day.

@Heartofstrings

I have a friend whose garden is tier 4 and house is tier 2. Couldn't make it up

They have a garden in a different postcode?

So what's the solution?
Put anyone in a 'border area' up to the higher of the 2 tiers?
See where that gets you ...

No idea. We are tier 2, and about 2 streets away from tier FOUR. I just don't know.

@Heartofstrings

I have a friend whose garden is tier 4 and house is tier 2. Couldn't make it up

How does your friend have 2 postcodes?

We are tier 4, 500m from the border of a tier 2 area. our local pub is in tier 2. I imagine the vast majority of their trade comes from tier 4 people though so either people are breaking the rules or I guess they’ll opt to close due to lack of business.

@modgepodge well I guess they are staying local!

So what's the solution? Put anyone in a 'border area' up to the higher of the 2 tiers See where that gets you ...

Well, yeah, I think part of the solution is to think a bit more carefully about where the lines are drawn. Near us, there’s a village where one side of the main street is Tier 2 and the other side is Tier 4. Clearly that is nonsense.

But I think the main thing people are struggling with is that so many Tier 4 areas in the South East border Tier 2 areas. That’s a gap of two tiers, sometimes between neighbours or cutting through communities. Surely if we are genuinely trying to contain the virus, the restrictions should be graduated to some extent - if an area has very high levels of the virus and should be in Tier 4, then the areas around it be in Tier 3 - I would have thought there should be a ‘barrier’ of Tier 3 around the Tier 4 areas.

The jumps between tier 2&4 seem illogical to me too.

I live in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire. Lincolnshire is all T3. Rutland, one of the bordering regions of SK is T2. Then Peterborough...T4. Rest of that area... T2. Lincolnshire/Nottinghamshire T3.

What is happening in Peterborough... And why aren't the surrounding areas having an issue?

Stamford-Rutland-Peterborough are geographically close and seem rather interconnected?

Practically it is a bit bonkers, but if not by council administrative areas, how would you draw the boundaries?

We're in tier 3, right on the Scottish border. We are not supposed to cross the border but lots of people come to our town for food shopping because it's nearest for them - but I heard of people being turned back at the border and sent to a town in Scotland miles away because they're not supposed to cross the border. That makes no sense, surely it's safer to travel the short distance even though it's crossing the border.

I would travel away from a higher area rather than towards. I would presume the case rates go up gradually and the lines are drawn at a set point in that increase. Logically, the people going to the argos nearer the tier 4 will be more likely to carry covid than those travelling to an argos in tier 2.

I'm tier 4 in Kent, but an area with a low rate - we've been affected by Swale and Thanet. There had to be some way of measuring cut off. My niece is tier 2 in Sussex I think. Down the road in Groombridge they had one pub allowed to open and one that couldn't, because of the Kent/Sussex border.