Leaving your "local area"

[Whathappenedtothelego]

I live in a Tier 3 area. We are right on the edge of it, 10 mins walking distance to Tier 2.

The big outdoor park (national trust type) we normally go to is Tier 2. 15 minute drive away. You have to book an entry time.

I saw on the local news that police are stopping people at the border to ask them where they are going, and presumably browbeat them into turning round.

Has anyone else been stopped by police?

What do they mean by "leaving your local area?" To me, this IS my local area, and I want to support local businesses.

Does your local area mean just walking distance? Or the whole of Tier 3?

I want to meet up out of doors in this park with a friend who lives in Tier 2 - which is allowed under Tier 3 rules.

But obviously I don't want to get into an altercation with the police!

Would having an entry ticket to the park count as a reasonable reason to "cross the border?"

What country are you in OP?

England

Meeting a friend in tier 2 isn’t a reasonable reason to travel in and out of tier 3

www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-3-very-high-alert#travel

Travelling into or out of a Tier 3 alert level area
Avoid travelling outside your area, including for overnight stays, other than where necessary, such as:

for work
for education
to access voluntary, charitable or youth services
because of caring responsibilities
for moving home
to visit your support bubble
for a medical appointment or treatment

www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-3-very-high-alert#meeting-family-and-friends

Unfortunately, if the police are determined to waste time better spent elsewhere by stopping people travelling between tiers then I don’t think you’d be able to reason with them. You absolutely wouldn’t be breaking any law, because it is ‘advised to’ not ‘you must not’ but I have to say it would kind of spoil my day to be pulled over and interrogated for doing something which is perfectly legal.
I might still do it if I really wanted to, though. They can’t stop everyone on every road, after all.
What a shame for people whose idea of fun (open air, no contact with other people) isn’t piling into Costco, Primark or M&S on a weekend

There's nothing in the legislation about travel, only in the guidelines, which aren't legally enforceable.

Just go

@Heybeendyingtomeetyou

Meeting a friend in tier 2 isn’t a reasonable reason to travel in and out of tier 3

www.gov.uk/guidance/tier-3-very-high-alert#travel

Travelling into or out of a Tier 3 alert level area
Avoid travelling outside your area, including for overnight stays, other than where necessary, such as:

for work
for education
to access voluntary, charitable or youth services
because of caring responsibilities
for moving home
to visit your support bubble
for a medical appointment or treatment

This

I don’t think the police are stopping people on a whim as it isn’t against the law to travel out of the area it’s only advised against and people are traveling in and out for various reasons. The village where I live my “local” area for shopping, walks, supermarkets etc. are actually in a different county to where I live although only a 10 min drive. Thankfully for now they are both in tier 2 but should my post code area move up I won’t be driving 35 mins to what would be classed as my local area in my county as I never visit there in normal circumstances and it would be that town centre that drives up our county rates!! In terms of your situation I would personally just go, it’s an outdoor attraction and the risk is minimal. I don’t understand the thinking on here that seems to be if you happen to live in a tier 3 area you definitely have Covid and spread it if you even dare put one foot over an invisible boundary into tier 2!

We’re tier 3 and been into our local town today which is tier 2. Our rates are
Lower than the tier 2 area. There was no stopping of vehicles.

Police will be mainly interested in people leaving tier 3 to do things they are not allowed to do in tier 3. We regularly travelled long distances in the first lockdown and the only cars I saw stopped were ones that were being searched.

I don't believe there is any law against crossing between tiers in England. If anyone thinks there is, please link to the legislation. NB Government guidance is not legally binding. It may in some cases explain what the law says, but it does not have the force of law. OP, I don't believe you need a "reasonable excuse" to cross the border. You can just cross it. Meeting a friend in an outdoor park is legal as long as you don't breach the rule of six. Meeting outdoors is low risk as long as you keep a bit of distance from the person you are meeting. I drove from Tier 3 to Tier 2 and back yesterday and saw no sign of any "border checks".

The police round here are definitely stopping cars and using automatic number plate recognition on the county boundary . They have been tweeting about it and it was on the news.

Presumably they aren't stopping the buses, so I could go by bus - surely by car is safer!

I’ve been from tier three to two today, to meet my Dad. We walked outdoors, so I don’t feel guilty in the slightest.

North Yorkshire police are patrolling their border roads with ANPR and stopping drivers from outside the area. Legally they can't force people to turn around, but they can make things awkward.

I live in Derbyshire right on the border of Nottinghamshire and I go to Nottingham to do my shopping as it's better than Derby. Don't get stopped although they are both tier 3 areas so all the same restrictions.

In the event that the police stop you and ask you the purpose of your journey and you explain that it's to visit the park, I can't see what legal basis they would have for trying to stop you.

@SufferingFromLongLockdown

There's nothing in the legislation about travel, only in the guidelines, which aren't legally enforceable.

Does that mean you can go form tier 3 to tier 2 on holiday for a week in England?

This all sounds quite similar to when our local CC said on the news back in April that he would be searching shopping bags for essentials, he did retract it eventually but the damage was already done, people will lose respect for the police because of incidents like this

I live 1.5 miles away from tier 3. I live in tier 2. I will be entering tier 3 tomorrow on my run (which will start and end at my front door). I will do my weekly shopping in tier 3 as I always have done.

I'm on leave early next week and planning to get the last couple of presents for the DCs. So do I go to tier 3 to the town centre nearest me or travel an hour and stay in tier 2?

I've seen reports about police stopping people close to us too, but I've not seen it and I've been in tier 3 a couple of times this week.

People really ought to be kicking up a fuss if the police are stopping people for behaviour that is perfectly legal.

OP - where are you in the country? We're Tier 3 and don't bat an eyelid travelling to Tier 2 to go walking in the countryside or similar. DP is in the police and would have no qualms in telling anyone who stopped us that any guidance is merely that, unenforceable and to go to hell if they tried to stop us.

Surely us getting in our car and travelling to the middle of nowhere with no one around is hardly a risk to society!

@Waxonwaxoff0

I live in Derbyshire right on the border of Nottinghamshire and I go to Nottingham to do my shopping as it's better than Derby. Don't get stopped although they are both tier 3 areas so all the same restrictions.

I'm similar, live in Staffordshire but drive into Leicestershire and Derbyshire to go for walks and have been doing since we were put into lockdown. Driven past several police cars on my travels and not one has even given me the side eye. They presumably have better things to do than pull over a 30 something old female and her kids when I'm not breaking the law.

afaik, you are suppose to follow the rules of the tier you live in even if you cross over into another tier zone.

The situation is never going to mean having rules that are easy to follow.

[quote OverTheRainbow88]@SufferingFromLongLockdown

There's nothing in the legislation about travel, only in the guidelines, which aren't legally enforceable.

Does that mean you can go form tier 3 to tier 2 on holiday for a week in England?[/quote]
Read them. They're only 70 pages or so long . I suspect there's something in them about overnight stays for tier 3 but double check.