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Original poster

Two Women fined for walking for Starbucks

648 replies

Superketchup · 08/01/2021 13:17

What rule have they broken? I don’t understand. Two of them met - yes can meet one other person - they’d driven 5 miles - surely that’s ok?! - and they had a Starbucks each which the police said was a picnic?!
Why are they keeping takeaways open if it’s agaisnt the law to get one? I took my kids to the park, the coffee shop was open for takeaway. It was freezing. We got a hot chocolate each. I’m too scared to do so again!

OP posts:
benedicto · 09/01/2021 12:32

So it is better walk in busy areas that I access from my house on foot rather than travel a short distance within my area to access an open space as permitted by the guidance? Clearly the safer option is the latter option. The only thing safer is to stay entirely indoors, but that might make me more susceptible to getting seriously ill from Covid in the next few weeks and months. It is not about looking for loopholes to be irresponsible. I am trying to be the most responsible and law-abiding that I can.

CaptainMyCaptain · 09/01/2021 12:37

@QueenoftheAir

Ok thats great so let's all play to the guidance and keep this lockdown going

Totally agree with you @MrsWindass but you'll get flak on this thread from those who are in denial about how bad things are, and how our small everyday actions might be contributing to how bad things are.

Nobody on this thread is a covid denier or anti lockdown. I don't understand how you don't understand that loads of people stomping round the streets of a built up area is more likely to spread covid than dispersing to less populated areas a few miles away where walkers and runners can keep a greater distance.

Maybe you just don't feel the need for exercise and fresh air but I do. I do not want to catch or spread the disease but I do not intend to crawl out of my house pale and weak with wrecked mental health when this is all over. Exercise is important on both counts.

RaspberryCoulis · 09/01/2021 12:41

It's really worrying that in some parts of the country the Police appear to be doing what the hell they like, and what's even more worrying, that people are supporting this.

No. The police are there to enforce the LAW. Not to make up their own roolz and enforce those, or to decide that guidance actually means something else.

fluufy · 09/01/2021 13:52

Some people don't understand difference between should and must in the guidelines

Some people, many people, are doing neither, and differentiating and saying that if its only a guideline you don't have to do it is not helpful.

It's really worrying that in some parts of the country the Police appear to be doing what the hell they like, and what's even more worrying, that people are supporting thi

It's much more worrying that over a thousand people a day are dying, some of them because the general public appear to be doing what the hell they like, and even more worrying, people are supporting them in doing so.
IF the police are going over the top, its because idiots still aren't doing the basics necessary, and people are dying because of it.

Arobase · 09/01/2021 13:59

IF the police are going over the top, its because idiots still aren't doing the basics necessary, and people are dying because of it.

Police are making up their own rules because others aren't doing "the basics"? Surely if that were the case the police should be concentrating on people who are actually breaking the law, not wasting their time enforcing non-existent rules?

benedicto · 09/01/2021 14:01

The thousand people a day dying are not dying due to country walks. It is 2 weeks almost exactly since Christmas Day when 44% of the population mixed households indoors. That is what caused the current huge increase in hospitalisations and ongoing deaths.
The case numbers are still rising because so many people are still mixing indoors, mainly due to working in non-essential areas that are being kept open because no-one is policing which places of work are essential and non-essential.

fluufy · 09/01/2021 14:02

They're dying due to people mixing. So why not just stop fucking mixing for a few weeks? Save a few lives.

Arobase · 09/01/2021 14:02

Mind you I don't feel i do much but work 7 days a week to keep people in leisure on furlough

Do you seriously believe people want to be on furlough with all the uncertainty about their future that that entails? My sister would love to be working, but as her employers have been forced to close their doors there's not much she can do about it.

benedicto · 09/01/2021 14:05

@fluufy

They're dying due to people mixing. So why not just stop fucking mixing for a few weeks? Save a few lives.
I will do whatever the government enacts in legislation. It is the lack of legislation about exercise but apparent ability to issue fines despite no legislation that concerns me.
fluufy · 09/01/2021 14:10

I will do whatever the government enacts in legislation

I can't believe that people are so selfish that they will only do the bare minimum they are forced to do by law, rather than doing as they have been asked to do to save lives and relieve pressure on the NHS.

I've just spent an hour on the phone counselling a woman whose parents have both just died from Covid, and she is ill herself.

Its not the law that matters, have some basic human decency and stay the fuck at home as you have been begged to do.

Againstmachine · 09/01/2021 14:15

Its not the law that matters, have some basic human decency and stay the fuck at home as you have been begged to do.

Stop with the emotional blackmail this thread is about two people going for a walk however much you think they are spreading it they are not.

Arobase · 09/01/2021 14:22

stay the fuck at home as you have been begged to do.

But we haven't. The government has expressly and rightly recognised the fact that we need to exercise. If people are prevented from exercising we will have a whole new set of health problems for the NHS to cope with.

whittystitties · 09/01/2021 14:28

@Arobase

stay the fuck at home as you have been begged to do.

But we haven't. The government has expressly and rightly recognised the fact that we need to exercise. If people are prevented from exercising we will have a whole new set of health problems for the NHS to cope with.

Anyone else sick of the "stay the fuck at home" brigade?

Listen to yourselves, it's weird

Xenia · 09/01/2021 14:30

The Derbyshire police have been forced to undo all the £200 fines they issued in breach of the law.

lazylinguist · 09/01/2021 14:39

Its not the law that matters, have some basic human decency and stay the fuck at home as you have been begged to do.

Don't be so silly. How are you interpreting "You may leave the house to go to work, do essential shopping, pick up a takeaway and for exercise" as ''being begged to stay the fuck at home'? If we weren't supposed to be doing those things, it wouldn't say we could in the guidance, and parks, NTproperties, takeaways etc would be closed. Why would they be left open if people aren't supposed to use them?

Some of us are surrounded by miles of open countryside, where we could walk all day without getting within 2m of another person. How is it benefitting anyone if we 'stay the fuck at home'? How are we raising Covid rates by exercising within the guidelines?

Nootkah · 09/01/2021 14:49

I think its the fact it was a non essential journey, and clearly with the intention of meeting for a coffee rather than for exercise. I expect the exercise they were taking (walking) could have been done from their front door without needing to drive to meet.

Theres a difference between can and should. The police have been told to enforce more strictly .

tigger1001 · 09/01/2021 14:59

@Nootkah

I think its the fact it was a non essential journey, and clearly with the intention of meeting for a coffee rather than for exercise. I expect the exercise they were taking (walking) could have been done from their front door without needing to drive to meet.

Theres a difference between can and should. The police have been told to enforce more strictly .

The police can only enforce the law though. They were not breaking the law. Nothing for the police to enforce there. The police overreached. That, for me is far more of a worry than two friends having a coffee while walking.
Em777 · 09/01/2021 15:02

I don’t understand how it can be considered dangerous to go for a socially distanced walk with a friend in a field but there is no general mask mandate outdoors (or anywhere, bar retail). I’d much prefer to wear a mask outdoors then to be discouraged from walking in fields.

IAmMeThisIsI · 09/01/2021 15:09

Stay in the house. I don't think we even need this exercise rule. It's just giving people a loophole. If the schools are closed then unless we need food/medicine then there's no reason to leave the house. Unless you're a career or an essential worker just stay in the freaking house! It's not like you're being asked to tarmac a roof in July! You're being asked to stay snuggled up inside for winter. Ffs. I don't understand why some people HAVE to be outside all the time.

whittystitties · 09/01/2021 15:11

@IAmMeThisIsI

Stay in the house. I don't think we even need this exercise rule. It's just giving people a loophole. If the schools are closed then unless we need food/medicine then there's no reason to leave the house. Unless you're a career or an essential worker just stay in the freaking house! It's not like you're being asked to tarmac a roof in July! You're being asked to stay snuggled up inside for winter. Ffs. I don't understand why some people HAVE to be outside all the time.
Brilliant, let's all stagnate and die of heart disease. Weird weird attitude, never leave the house?

There's a name for people that do that and it's a recognised mental health condition

Delatron · 09/01/2021 15:14

Piss off saying people have to stay indoors. You sound healthy. I run every day and take the dog and kids out for fresh air and exercise. Thank god the government recognise this is a basic requirement for both physical and mental health.

Same4Walls · 09/01/2021 15:15

Stay in the house. I don't think we even need this exercise rule.

So you think we should increase obesity levels, decrease people's fitness levels and increase mental healty problems by staying inside. It's deemed cruel to keep animals caged up but you're advocating doing just that to millions of people. Just because you don't like being outdoors doesnt mean it's healthy to permanently stay inside.

fluufy · 09/01/2021 15:29

How are you interpreting "You may leave the house to go to work, do essential shopping, pick up a takeaway and for exercise" as ''being begged to stay the fuck at home'?
How are you not? You CAN do certain things, if you must, but you've been advised over and over and over again not to.
Yes legally you can meet a friend for exercise, but you've been asked to stay at home and not meet anyone unless its actually essential. Metting your mate for coffee is not essential.

How are you STILL not getting this? Do people actually have to die right in front of you for you to understand? Just because you can legally do something doesn't mean you should do it

CaptainMyCaptain · 09/01/2021 15:30

@IAmMeThisIsI

Stay in the house. I don't think we even need this exercise rule. It's just giving people a loophole. If the schools are closed then unless we need food/medicine then there's no reason to leave the house. Unless you're a career or an essential worker just stay in the freaking house! It's not like you're being asked to tarmac a roof in July! You're being asked to stay snuggled up inside for winter. Ffs. I don't understand why some people HAVE to be outside all the time.
You are ridiculous.
annevonkleve · 09/01/2021 15:31

IF the police are going over the top, its because idiots still aren't doing the basics necessary, and people are dying because of it

Nobody has died because someone went for a walk around a deserted reservoir.

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