Regarding those FALSELY claiming to have exemptions to certain rules, other countries have limited that issue by those who are genuinely exempt have paperwork/credit card type documentation proving their exemption. We seem ridiculously averse to this kind of thing in Uk though even when not doing so is causing fatalities as in current climate.
Personally I don't think the lanyards should be simply so easily purchasable, they should be restricted to being bought from maybe council offices with supporting evidence from Drs etc?
And I speak as someone WITH hidden disability myself.
Why do the vulnerable people need to physically go to the shop? Surely it's in their interest to limit risk of exposure and the able adult supporting them to do the shop for them? You can browse the items available on the supermarkets website or app in most cases, in others (eg Lidl, aldi, yellow label items) surely in most cases you can communicate by phone/text to figure that out?
Seems to me in the vast majority of scenarios that there are solutions that are NOT 2/3/4/5+ people doing the in person shop for that household.
Eg
People still like to browse that's a want not a need with the possible exception re reduced products, and it's possible to "browse" ahead of the in person shop online, from a quick google just now it appears even aldi now have click and collect and delivery options (though not quite the same method as other supermarkets. Happy to be corrected if I've misunderstood)
Shopping is treated like a religion in this country god forbid people actually be expected to treat it like the practicality it is.
I'm far from privileged in the ways I think you mean @JamesMiddletonsMarshmallows
I'm disabled, no support people at the moment for this kind of thing, on benefits.
I do think certain people on benefits need help learning how to budget and plan ahead and I'm aware there are others falling through the cracks/being let down by UC cock ups etc - yet another reason UBI would have been a MUCH better plan for current circumstances
Your flippant attitude to those of us wanting to PRESERVE life is disgusting to me.
Your arguing to death on allergies is also not my experience (not only as a lay person with relatives with serious food allergies but also as an ex hcp) of the reality. Most people with allergies to consider have a pretty good idea of which foods/brands/products to avoid and has been said MULTIPLE times and you've wilfully ignored, ingredients can be checked ahead of doing the shop online, even when they come across a new product while doing the shop they'll either not take the risk and stick to safe favourites or are usually very quickly and efficiently able to check the ingredients. They're not laboriously "browsing" every item they pick up and reading all the ingredients lists! The most common allergens are generally "flagged" on the products they're in too.
The hyperbole is unnecessary, but I do expect for the sake of all of us for people to be able to efficiently and without faff do their supermarket shop in such a way as to minimise the risk to themselves and others. This is what's been happening in other countries who are managing the pandemic better. That is NOT asking so much.
Also not sure how browsing, not touching anything but looking with your eyes, increases risk of contamination?
Fairly sure you're just being goady now.
Faffing and "browsing" means more time spent in the store, increasing the risk of contaminating or being contaminated, especially if masks aren't being worn - this is hardly rocket science, you clearly possess some level of intelligence that means I don't believe for a second you couldn't work this out for yourself
We should be able to enforce it
Totally agree
During current times, sensible people want to get in and out of the supermarket as quickly as they can
Exactly! Faffing and dithering isn't necessary and at the moment increases the risks to us all.
I'm actually tested weekly due to my job now does that mean your job brings you into regular contact with the most vulnerable to covid?!
Because if so your attitude on this thread is even more disgraceful.
@Flaxmeadow sadly that will be the case for too many (Men not trusting women to shop), my dad was like that, only reason he no longer does it is he physically can't, mum still has to show him receipts
@Flaxmeadow Also agree with your short list of the options that would cover most circumstances
@Littleelf1 then why can't the other able (?) adult do the shop alone if you're not up to it?
Some of you are scarily lacking in compassion! How is your opinion which increases the risk to all "compassionate" regarding an "outdoor pursuit" that is pretty worrying if that's the only idea a carer can come up with!
The solutions myself and MANY others have suggested - which you have as far as I can tell almost always rejected even the IDEA of - may not suit everyone but they WOULD work for a lot of people which would reduce numbers, crowding etc.
You'll never eliminate all risk, people will find loopholes (generally entitled arseholes with no compassion for any but themselves and in this case that's not even logically true!) but we can reduce it a lot more than is currently happening.
Shop staff should be more assertive with these selfish people which as the retail staff posting on the thread have pointed out on numerous occasions puts them at risk of verbal and even physical assault. Retail managing are the ones who REALLY have to step up here and provide the correct robust support for the staff trying to implement and enforce rules that the management are blithely advertising.
More security staff and good quality security staff are needed. It's not simply a question of being physically imposing, they need to have the right assertive but non inflammatory way of acting with customers flouting rules.
As I said this is the area my mum worked in before retiring. She had one occasion where a dept manager asked her why she had employed an older chap who was less physically imposing over a younger, tall, well built guy. She explained the younger guy had no experience in the security arena and had the attitude that he thought he could just use his physique to intimidate people into doing as asked. The older guy was a retired police officer, in addition he was softly spoken but self assured and had experience working security at concerts since leaving the police force. She was proven right on both counts. The younger guy was taken on by another local supermarket and an incident got out of hand and he ended up charged with assault - he wasn't guilty but came a cropper with a local well known shoplifters tactics. The ex police officer worked very well at mums place and was still there when she retired and took over her position which he still has to this day. He's dealt with many "chancers" and awkward customers in that time and has never had anything close to the difficulty that younger guy had, even when dealing with the same people. He has a similar approach to hiring as mum did and that store by local sm commentary seems to be considered the "safest" in covid terms as they've been keeping safe practice enforced/encouraged throughout, the manager is also not afraid to bar people who don't like how they run things.
Funny how people are perfectly capable of behaving sensibly when there are likely and immediate consequences if they don't! Eh?
And no the shop is not suffering a lack of custom as a result, far from it!
Actually the management of any business can reserve the right to refuse entry. So yeah they could stop them if they wanted to.
Exactly! Too many managers seem to have forgotten this, plus some are not being properly supported by higher management.
The "ads" that Sainsburys Et al are putting out don't necessarily reflect how they treat managers if they try to enforce such rules.
Sainsburys in particular ime this past year have been absolutely dire in their attitude to and treatment of disabled, elderly and otherwise vulnerable customers. Their immediate response to the 1st lockdown was to close down their site, app, email and phone lines. Which of course made customers extremely anxious!
Very gradually re-opened things but they caused a lot of difficulty for a lot of customers including myself, cancelled and "lost" orders, ridiculously hard to get slots which they were only releasing haphazardly, literally hours on hold on the phone lines (I think I was over 5 hours on occasion thank fuck for speaker option!) and a couldn't care less attitude when one did get through. Their sm at the time was full of customers who'd had orders cancelled, messed up or even on at least one occasion delivered twice! Customers were reporting drivers poor attitudes etc too.
Yes it was a tough time - for everyone - but the other supermarkets didn't behave this way so no excuse for them to do so.
Re "what to do with my kids" myself and other respondents have been clear from the beginning that those with GENUINE need to shop with more than one person are of course perfectly acceptable to do so. The vast majority of posts have been regarding groups of ADULTS shopping together which in most cases is not necessary.
You seem to misunderstand the parameters of disability discrimination law too. There are times and circumstances when people ARE required to prove they have a disability and it's not discrimination to do so and legislation can be and is altered when new circumstances arise making disclosure of status necessary, which I for one think should be the case here.
It needn't be detailed a simple credit card style card issued to those with disabilities could be implemented that didn't detail the nature of the disability but simply provided proof where needed for certain exemptions and concessions.
Would prevent liars from getting away with claiming exemptions too - these people are a stain on disability Equality progress anyway.