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.

@countrygirl99

Blimey, that's closer than my nearest supermarket.

Mine too!

See if the problem is local, they need to make it clearer. 7 miles is definitely local in my mind, e.g locally grown veg. However, @lowestebb and others think otherwise. It's too subjective.

Plenty of places don’t have anywhere safe to walk from your house.

I live in a village which only has one footpath from it and it’s under 2ft of mud all winter as it goes through a marsh.

So the alterntives are.

Walk up and down the streets of the busy village, going less than 2m from multiple people.

Jump over a farmer’s gate and walk round a load of farm tracks on private property. The farmer was moaning about this today on the village fb group.

Drive 3 miles in one direction to a canal towpath. Quite narrow and popular so brushing past people.

Drive 4 miles to a quiet footpath and walk there.

Or stay in the house, no exercise, get fat, increase my risk of being seriously ill if I get covid, get depression and kill myself.

freezedriedromance what’s wrong with walking to your local park if it’s only 2.6 miles away. It never ceases to amaze me the upside down thinking from excuse makers.

I have no problem with the police throwing their weight around if it stops unnecessary deaths

So you genuinely have absolutely no problem in police forces making up new laws and then fining people for breaking them?

Yanbu. I cannot believe that was the best use of police time.

Exercise yes. Just to meet someone for a chat, no

You are allowed to meet one other person for exercise. They were going for a walk not meeting for a chat. I’m sure they’d have talked while walking but that’s allowed.

@atswim2birds

Yes, but that law also makes it clear that it is legal to go out to exercise, meet one other person, buy food, seek medical attention and several other reasons

Exercise yes. Just to meet someone for a chat, no.

They said they were going to walk round the lake. The police haven't said the fines were justified because the women were sitting in the car having a chat, they've said the fines were justified because "driving for exercise is not in the spirit of lockdown". This is not in accordance with the law and is an abuse of police power.

@Brefugee the "lake" thing concerned the Blue Pool near Buxton in which folk often swam. It looks lovely but is hideously polluted, so they dyed the water black to reduce its appeal

@Angrymum22

freezedriedromance what’s wrong with walking to your local park if it’s only 2.6 miles away. It never ceases to amaze me the upside down thinking from excuse makers.

Maybe it’s down a busy A road with no pavements? I can’t walk to local footpaths apart from one because of this.

@LowestEbb I get it, no one ever says we've done a good job, no one recognises the long hours, the sleepless nights, half the time most people don't even really know the law they're so certain about, yet the minute they think there has been an injustice (they only have one side of this story and the fines can be appealed anyway), all police are dickheads. I'm not police but lead a multi agency specialist team including police and am from a similar background, my husband works in a prison. The public will never know the full extent of what we do, what we see and what we go through, but they're willing to throw stones the second they get a little inkling they might not sure with a decision a force has made. Chin up, I came to realise a long time ago we won't ever win, but we can know we go into work every day and do our best to protect people.

@angrymum22 Not a clue. If there were pavements I would walk there, but its a weaving country lane with no lighting. I spoke to Derby police (my screen shots in a previous post) where they said its against the guidelines to drive for exercise.

You are allowed to meet one other person for exercise. They were going for a walk not meeting for a chat. I’m sure they’d have talked while walking but that’s allowed

There are plenty of threads here about meeting friends for "exercise". Its an excuse, pure and simple.

But you can both exercise and chat at the same time. As indeed they would be doing walking along and talking.

So next time someone is standing on the parapet of a bridge, the police shouldn't bother attending, because they may not be attempting suicide, which is a crime in English law, but rather just enjoying the view?

I'm not sure tombstoning is illegal, but the police will still intervene if they see it.

The role of the police isn't just to uphold the law, but protect life and property.It isn't that hard to understand really.

Fuck sake. What the fuck does tombstoning and suicide have to do with the police abusing their.power?

I'm going to bow out of this thread now as its upsetting that so many want us to live in a police state. If you want that fuck off and live in China you absolute idiots

I live in a busy suburb and the pavements are very busy, as are the roads (A roads) so can't walk in road. A new highly contagious variant means I don't want in my suburb. Those living in the nearby villages can drive to my suburb for the Tesco Express. I would like to drive 6miles to walk in the countryside near those villages. I am now really worried.

The law needs to specify a distance if the police are to be able to legally fine people. You can't be convicted of anything without a fair trial based on a police officer's personal interpretation of 'local' or 'reasonable'.

In the first lockdown I didn't leave my house for 6 weeks because of a fear of police officers like this. I put on a stone, and I was already overweight.

And the fact that I can dispute these fines is not any consolation. That is a very stressful and lengthy procedure. The law works by the police proving someone is guilty, not a defendant having to prove their innocence- that is a very worrying development.

You can. But we all know that the point is not exercise. They aren't going for a run, they arent' even going for a walk. They are going to socialise and will shuffle about as they do it for cover.
It's talked about endlessly on here.

Colleagues of mine were stopped by the police yesterday, as in more than one.

All 3 provided their nhs ID and key worker letter and said they were going to work. 2 of them were then asked to prove they were going to work by providing their rota so actually logged onto the off duty app to do this. I’d be buggered as don’t do technology and don’t have the app.

Not this shower again. How difficult can it be for the police to read the law and then uphold it? It's completely clear in the legislation that this activity is not prohibited.

We live in a very built up area, and the local parks and woods are thronged. It is hard to stay away from others. I think it's sensible to travel out of a busy area to exercise and should be encouraged.

@atswim2birds

You are allowed to meet one other person for exercise. They were going for a walk not meeting for a chat. I’m sure they’d have talked while walking but that’s allowed

There are plenty of threads here about meeting friends for "exercise". Its an excuse, pure and simple.

Might be an excuse but its within the law.

I thought it was stated in guidelines somewhere that is was allowed to drive for exercise?

Now I feel like the police are gaslighting us.

@atswim2birds

You can. But we all know that the point is not exercise. They aren't going for a run, they arent' even going for a walk. They are going to socialise and will shuffle about as they do it for cover. It's talked about endlessly on here.

In that case, you should raise it with your MP and ask them to change to law to prevent people meeting up with one other person outdoors at all.

I have long observed that the best way to avoid being aproached by the police (certainly in my area) is to look worrying and be doing something obviously illegal. I'll have to take up walking while carrying a joint and shouting aggressively at strangers - no chance of police interference then.

March lockdown, I watched them loudly and agressively move a father who had sat down with his twin toddlers I'm my locale park. They ignored the group of 10 or so drunk angry blokes slumped about the bit they always congregate about 300m away.

@Viviennemary

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

They’re not right. As you’ll discover if they attempt a prosecution. I can’t believe how eager some people are to surrender their liberty.