Police are pulling over loads of cars in my local town

[VivaLeBeaver]

Stopping people and asking them where they’re going, is it essential, etc. Glad they’re taking it seriously.

And not local to me, but saw this “ticket” on fb. So police saying you can’t drive somewhere to exercise. I know that was being discussed earlier.

From our local police Facebook page

It’s already been established that some police forces have interpreted this incorrectly. Ours doesn’t say that.

You can’t travel to take exercise in Madrid. You can be stopped and questioned about ‘essential’ items & have to use nearest shop - no long walks to one further away.

adaline The point is your local police are misinterpreting The Law. That's the entire gist of this post!

As for the people in the woods. Did all the cars arrive together? Or, as in every such car park, did cars come and go over a period of time? Was there a time where several unrelated people stood within 2m of each other? Are they now all walking en mass in a group of 40 through the woods? ....

If not, they aren't posing a risk to each other. Calm down.

@BiBiBirdie What sort of area do you live in?

Appalling experience. Please report it

I don't need calming down Miljea. I have no idea when the cars arrived as I merely drove past.

Personally, I feel that if there is enough social distancing then it shouldn't be an issue. But I am a bit of a rule follower, which was why I mentioned it.

THIS is vigilante behaviour (from the BBC website).

This is what we need to be careful of.

Seen on our local fb page that police have blocked the road out of our own and asking people why they are on it. They turned round the poster who was trying to walk his dog “away from the million people in the park” telling him he had to walk from his house. This is getting silly now, the police are making their own rules up and in doing so are forcing more people to the same small space to walk their dogs, children, kangaroos etc

our town

pigflewpast The Police really shouldn't be out there antagonising people with made-up laws. They may very well need the public 'on-side' in the coming weeks.

I agree Miljea. They’re not helping the situation at all.
Still nobody has found any government rule that we can’t drive a sensible distance to exercise ( in my case 5 min up the road, 2 min past the reported road block)

@adaline Perfectly illustrating the point there...

So many people just don't understand what law is - they seem to think that the opinion of the police is automatically law.

Avon and Somerset Police should have listened to Michael Gove the other day who said it was ok...ie better to exercise in open spaces than places where more difficult to social distance

I think it's official now, no driving any more to walks, however isolated or not.

Link please.

David Gauke on Twitter.

twitter.com/DavidGauke/status/1243305069111660545?s=20

David Gauke
@DavidGauke
This is badly misjudged. People should maintain social distancing, which is what these people are doing. We need to maintain public support for fundamental behaviour change which requires the authorities to focus on genuinely bad behaviour

The link provided by Xenia does not say you cannot drive to where you choose to exercise and British law being as it is, that means that you can.

Obviously at a time like this nobody should take the piss, so I won't be going 20 miles, and probably not even 5. But I will be going two. TO GET AWAY FROM OTHER PEOPLE, which will reduce the chance of any transfer of the virus between them and me.

Someone else who got stopped saying that when they said they couldn’t safely walk their 3 dogs in the busy park they were told to walk them separately. When they questioned that they were told it would be allowed. So they couldn’t drive a couple of minutes up a main road to walk in solitude, but they could break the one a day rule to walk in a busy area twice. It’s mad and it needs sorting. I do not believe the police have the right to do this

The police are being utter cunts about this and it will come back and bite them on the arse imo.

Local police FB page here just put up a quote from one of the calls they've taken today 'my neighbour's just taking his car off his drive, come and stop him'.

With a note that they've been swamped by people reporting, that they're relying on people to use common sense and to please report on an online form if they really have to report as the phones are currently blocked to the point they're worried about missing emergencies.

Less police state than fgs back off.

"He then said he was going to be keeping a look out for me as I'm such a smart arse, and if he saw me again I was being fined. "

That's exactly why I said arguing with the polcie is a bad idea
It's nothing new, nothing to do with this crisis

Working class people have known this for many decades

it seems the mc are suddenly shocked when they are on the receiving end of police not bothering to put on their "Yes, madam" manners

Rather like the unemployed mc are being shocked now at how shit benefits are and how difficult to access

There seems to be a completely different interpretation of "social distancing" between some MNers and the authorities

The govt and the police seem to be saying that people should only leave their home if it is essential

not if they just think it will do no harm
e.g. keeping more than 2m away from anyone

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/coronavirus-desperate-police-fly-drones-21763624

In the Peak District, police used a drone to collect number plates from parked cars and trace their owners.
Spotting walkers, they tweeted:

“Walking your dog in the Peak District: Not essential.”
....
Daily exercise should be taken locally to your home.”

In North Yorkshire, police carried out spot checks near Harrogate.

North Yorkshire Police Assistant Chief Constable Mike Walker, said:
“The message is clear and the warning stark.
Stay at home, save lives.”

The force said the checkpoints could appear anywhere, any time.

Working class people have known this for many decades

So are you saying that class prejudice IS a problem.

@BigChocFrenzy I was polite. I just pointed out I was walking and getting milk which we needed which I was legally allowed to do, so long as I wasn't walking miles and miles out the way
He was aggressive from the moment he pulled over.
I'm just outside Reading.
I am aware they can be bastards though, I grew up with abusive parents and despite people raising concerns they did nothing. Even when my mum ran her long fingernails down the length of my arm, leaving deep scratch marks, when she said I did it for attention, they did nothing but threatened me for lying. One look at my lack of fingernails would have shown I couldn't have done it.

helena How you get treated by the police can sometimes very much depend on apparent class / wealth, skin colour etc

I noticed a very different attitude from them from when I was poor,
to after I'd qualified and joined the ranks of the mc professionals

However, in this emergency, I expect many police will have zero tolerance for anone they meet,
wc or the poshest accent

So it will be a shock to some not to be treated with the usual kid gloves, but business as usual to others

So it will be a shock to some not to be treated with the usual kid gloves, but business as usual to others

Yup