This is an excellent post, and something I’ve thought from the get-go with this.
An “excuse” is something we used to manufacture at school when we didn’t want to do sport for whatever reason. Use of this term confers wrong-doing, which isn’t the case at all for someone who has a medical exemption in the case of masks, or has a legally admissible reason to be outdoors during the current farce.
To me it’s just more Bullingdon Club arrogant out-of-touch conceitedness.
I would concur. There is something deeply troubling about a society that is so willing to accept it's a crime to exist as a human being. That is essentially what has happened (for all practical intents and purposes) since the removal of "outdoor recreation" as a defined reasonable excuse.
Criminalising the mere act of sitting on a bench in an empty park tells you everything you need to know about the nasty, authoritarian "something must be done" sentiment the government is taking advantage of.
I note this point was raised by a straight-talking Tory MP during the Parliamentary debate yesterday, but as per normal, his concerns were brushed aside by a harried
minion Minister who blathered on about how
we must stay at home to save the NHS.
Even if the government felt it necessary to include such restrictions to prevent the unpopular reoccurrence of the (legal) day out to Bournemouth beach etc., surely a mileage or county limit for outdoor recreation would have sufficed?
Not that one is advocating it, but surely, if asked the purpose of your journey, a simple explanation of ‘for work’ would suffice? Do you have to provide proof? What exactly constitutes proof, anyway, and are you legally obliged to carry such proof?
It mostly comes down to credibility and the 'attitude test' again. If you're wearing something that's clearly work clothing, or a work lanyard, and are travelling around typical working hours and say who you work for, you're unlikely to have any problems even if stopped. A group of teenagers not obviously from the same household, giving shifting and dubious explanations? A different story.
The Regulations don't require that anyone carries proof with them to legally leave home (don't give anyone any ideas...!), but if the police doubted your explanation then they could issue you with a FPN or take your details. You would then potentially have to fight it in Court if prosecuted. It would then fall to the Court to determine whether it accepted your stated reasonable excuse, based on the usual criminal standards and types of evidence.
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