to think Derbyshire police need to read the LAW and understand that you can't fine people when they are not breaking it

[chomalungma]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-55560814

Surrounded by police, treated like a criminal for driving 5 miles to a beauty spot for a walk.

It is not illegal to drive to exercise.

Had over 10 break ins over Xmas where I live in derbyshire, but sure, carry on harassing people on a walk, that’s much more important!

I agree the police is being ridiculous. I've seen many posts on Facebook from the local police warning to fine people left right and centre for going on walks etc. But the law doesn't ban walks!! You can be fined for breaking the law, not for doing something someone believes may not be within the spirit of the lockdown. I give no fuck about someone's opinion on the spirit of the lockdown and I certainly plan to continue driving to isolated areas 5-10miles away to enjoy nice walks with my family rather than try to crowd the local park.

The area where these women were walking is several miles from their home. There are a number of places nearer home that they could have met and/or walked. They were not staying local.

I speak as someone who lives very close to both the sites (Foremark and Calke - which are very close to each other) and both paces have been inundated with people from as far away as Leicester (about 30 miles) and beyond. Whilst there is no specific distance mentioned in the legislation, it does mention staying within your own town/village or area of your city. Foremark is not in Ashby de la Zouch, hence they were outside their area.

The police are right. Derbyshire has a high incidence of Covid at the moment. Folk should stick to their own areas.

DP is in the police and showed me this article earlier. He is utterly aghast. The police have no right to say the law has been broken when it clearly hasn't. The mistake the women made was to accept the fixed penalty notice.

We're off walking tomorrow. If the police stop us then we'll go to Court and have a Judge determine the actual law.

someone need to tell Lancashire police they had there chief inspector on radio Lancashire other day answering phone in questions.
one call asked if they could drive from Preston to lytham for dog walk he said yes to go to the beach . It could be anything form 8 to 20 miles .

Whilst there is no specific distance mentioned in the legislation, it does mention staying within your own town/village or area of your city. Foremark is not in Ashby de la Zouch, hence they were outside their area

Not in the leglisation.

Seriously, it’s not difficult to just stick to the rules.

Not the point of the thread. The people in question were not breaking the law, as there is no allowable distance stated in law. I hope they take it to court and Derbyshire police get a grip. You'd think they'd learn from last lockdown.

The legislation does not mention staying in your own town or village. That is in the guidance which is not legally enforceable so back to @JellyBabiesSaveLives' excellent post about police exceeding their powers.

I’m fucked then, I’d love pc plod to stop and question me, I’d wipe the floor with them, first I’d ask them why they can’t stop the maniacs doing 70mph in a 30 zone, overtaking on the wrong side of the road every morning at 7am.
I’m at DD’s every weekday providing childcare, 7 miles away from my home in another county and I take DGS out for a walk most days, sometimes to a local beauty spot.

"One of the would-be walkers, Jessica Allen, assumed "someone had been murdered" when she arrived at Foremark Reservoir on Wednesday afternoon."

I see the point about fining them for the Hunter wellies though.....

I'm about to drive 3 miles to the 'nice chippy' rather than the closer one which isn't as nice. Best hang, draw & quarter me now or goodness know how many extra people might die.

it was purely to help calm them and maybe even encourage the 3yo and 11yo to have a nap before I end up doing a murder. Police laughed and waved me on my way

I wouldn't try that approach in Derbyshire. They would have arrested you for threatening to murder your children, by the sounds of it.

Since when was it illegal to walk along carrying a drink? Or walk along eating a picnic, for that matter?

I blame the government for setting arrest targets - these cops have just discovered an easy way to hit target.

Maybe next time the walkers could make coffee at home in a thermos rather than going to a coffee shop...........

And the police were just waitng in the car park to catch people out? That's really shitty. How dangerous it it to walk around a damn reservoir?

They should focus on catching real criminals.

Adam Wagner human rights lawyer talking through the difference between the law on lockdown and the guidance

@Viviennemary

The police are right. Derbyshire has a high incidence of Covid at the moment. Folk should stick to their own areas.

From gov.uk....

outdoor exercise This should be done locally wherever possible, but you can travel a short distance within your area to do so if necessary (for example, to access an open space)

They haven't broken any rules, so i hope they appeal.

If you can travel to a busy garden centre, then its reasonable to drive a few miles to walk around a lake.

All these police have done is bring the Police into disrepute.

Every time Boris stands at that podium, I have an overwhelming desire to commit homicide. Thank God you can't be prosecuted for breaking "the spirit of the law"....

The chair of the police council was on BBC breakfast yesterday and said local exercise was guidance not law. Derby police are renowned for this, they were the ones with drones and putting colouring in the lake.

Our Northamptonshire CCs claim to fame was that he was going to search shopping bags for essentials in the March lockdown and then having to retract it

It's an abuse of power. The officers concerned should be facing misconduct proceedings

This. I'm astonished and.a bit concerned at the people who think that these officers using their unforms to bully and intimidate 2 young women acting perfectly within the law. And as always, the question has to be.asked if it was a couple of male bodybuilders, do we think they would have been treated the same?

I live in Derbyshire. This is insane. It's a very sparsely populated area outside of Derby, it's also the kind of area it's normal to drive your kids 45 minutes to school so driving 5 miles is nothing at all. I know there are COVID evangelists who think we shouldn't be going to the shop more than once a month or ever getting in a car, but it's not what the law says and I'd bloody hope this decision is reversed and Derbyshire police get a talking to - they've been heavy handed throughout the entire pandemic and it's wrong when one police force is enforcing so differently to all the others. It makes me really angry. Power trippers.

@BarbaraofSeville

Is the issue that, despite it being 5 miles, they live in Leicestershire and travelled to Derbyshire

Does covid stop at county borders? The risk would have been the same if they'd have driven to a lake or similar within Leicestershire.

But I suppose that they would have been outside the reaches of Derbyshire Police if they had done that.

Selective quoting there @BarbaraofSeville

I didn’t suggest that Covid couldn’t cross borders 🙄 I said, that where county borders are used in tier boundaries, there is a logic to using those borders during a lockdown, for consistency.

Wish the police showed up to actual crime this quickly (or at all actually).

Behaviour like this from the police is horrible. It just makes me anxious that I'm going to get in trouble for doing something perfectly reasonable. And then I get angry. It's really counterproductive.