Surely shops aren't allowed to do this?

[AntFarm]

Our local post office/store has got a sign up outside stating that everyone entering must wear a mask and that exempt people must show proof of exemption before entering. It then goes on to list proof of exemption as :

A doctor's note on headed paper
Exemption letter from DWP
Hidden disabilities exemption card

If you cannot wear a mask and do not have any of these then you are not allowed to enter. They have, so generously, said that children under the age of 11 do not need to show proof.

I am not exempt, neither is anyone in my family, and we all happily wear masks no problem. It just doesn't seem right or fair that someone should have to show medical or personal documents to someone in a shop!

DWP and doctors aren’t giving our exemption certificates, so they are shooting themselves in the foot if they expect anyone to have one.

That said, You can download the exemption card from the government website. You don’t have to give any personal information out, just download, print and off you go.

@InfiniteSheldon

Good for them if anyone doesn't like it they can go to a different PO. Perhaps consider why you think their staff should be at risk?

The staff are all wearing masks and are behind a screen.

Have you got a photo of that, out of interest?

It sounds as mad as school headteachers asking for GP letters for 48 hour D&V absence. No because they don't exist. And yes please do report me to the council for following your own school rules.

@JamieLeeCurtains

Have you got a photo of that, out of interest?

It sounds as mad as school headteachers asking for GP letters for 48 hour D&V absence. No because they don't exist. And yes please do report me to the council for following your own school rules.

Yes I do have a photo. I, too, thought it along the same lines as schools asking for doctors notes.

@GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat

Their shop, their rulez.

Not necessarily. They are a Post Office so presumably have to follow rules and standards that the Post Office would expect them to.

Our village butchers have gone back to the shop being closed and just taking phone orders (as they did throughout the lockdown) because they don't want the hassle of trying to enforce masks and SD in their small shop. They opened it up a month or so again when masks came in, but they're thoroughly fed up of trying to police it all with the tossers who think the rules don't apply to them.

@user1497207191

Our village butchers have gone back to the shop being closed and just taking phone orders (as they did throughout the lockdown) because they don't want the hassle of trying to enforce masks and SD in their small shop. They opened it up a month or so again when masks came in, but they're thoroughly fed up of trying to police it all with the tossers who think the rules don't apply to them.

I keep seeing people on Mumsnet talking about people who think the rules don't apply to them but in the month or so that masks have been compulsory in the UK I can probably count on one hand the amount of adults I've seen with no mask on.

Other than a downloaded paper that anyone can download, then there is no such proof. And actually, on this occasion, it is not a case of their shop their rules. Firstly, postal services are public services, and coronavirus or not, the law requires certain services to be made available to the public. It is part of their contract to provide those services and they cannot unreasonably deny them to anyone. The law does not require exempt people to provide evidence or explain themselves to anyone. If it did, they would be entitled to see evidence of exemption, but it doesn't, so they can't. They could lose their contract for postal services for this.

Secondly, many exempt people are disabled as well. This is disability discrimination. The ban disproportionately impacts on people with disabilities by demanding a condition which they are not required to meet and do not have to meet. That would apply in any retail situation. A retailer can ask people to wear masks, and they can remind people that the law requires them to wear a mask unless they are exempt. But it would be very dodgy to try to insist on the wearing of a mask if someone says they are exempt.

"Their shop, their rulez."

It is also a post office so they cannot say their rulez.
The first two things they asked for don't exist and the last can be printed out by anyone so a pointless thing to insist on anyway.

Thank you Moondust and Sockwomble for speaking sense!

You think everyone can wear a mask? You can't think of a single condition where someone could not keep one on? You must be very uneducated.

Disgusting they are creating a two tier society, where people can't go in without proof that doesn't exist.

As others said it's a Post office you can't just decide your own rules.

It's a very dangerous road we are treading down, vilifying those who can't wear masks and so people can't go in certain shops, I remember this sort of thing from the dark days of history.

If you can't wear a mask because of your one single condition, get a certificate as requested by this P.O. It's not hard.

Except numerous times people have said doctors won't provide exemptions, so yes it is harder than that.

MaveyWavey would you expect me to leave my profoundly disabled teenage son in his wheelchair on the street because he cannot wear a mask so wouldn't be allowed in?

@Gncq

If you can't wear a mask because of your one single condition, get a certificate as requested by this P.O. It's not hard.

Where are people supposed to get these certificates from?

And why should someone have to prove they have a disability/condition that exempts them when they are not required to do so by law.

I remember this sort of thing from the dark days of history

We're in a global pandemic. One unlike anything in history.

@Gncq

I remember this sort of thing from the dark days of history

We're in a global pandemic. One unlike anything in history.

God, yes, right up there with smallpox, measles in the New World, Bubonic Plague and Spanish flu . Give me a fucking break!

And why should someone have to prove they have a disability/condition that exempts them when they are not required to do so by law

How else are you supposed to tell the difference between someone who doesn't like wearing a mask, someone who is politically against wearing a mask, and someone who has a condition?

InDeo
Welk, yeah, none of those things were a global pandemic.

We're in a global pandemic. One unlike anything in history.

No it isn't there has been much worse in history. There quite a number of pandemics in 20th century in fact.

If you want to stop disabled people using shops because they can't wear a mask it says more about you than me, maybe we should house them in camps then.

@Gncq

And why should someone have to prove they have a disability/condition that exempts them when they are not required to do so by law

How else are you supposed to tell the difference between someone who doesn't like wearing a mask, someone who is politically against wearing a mask, and someone who has a condition?

As I said previously, where exactly are all these people that refuse to wear masks because they don't like them, or refuse to wear them as they're politically against them?! There really aren't droves of people who do this!