I see them occasionally in Leeds. However they are armed for a reason, and that reason is not to police mask wearing. They need to be focusing on why they are there.
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the most over the top restrictions introduced
- Thread starter Jamiescott1
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I see them occasionally in Leeds. However they are armed for a reason, and that reason is not to police mask wearing. They need to be focusing on why they are there.
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Scotrail12
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Has to be the quarantine for those returning from abroad - not allowing them to walk their dog? Really?
Many people do find them reassuring.
Although having them stood by me on the platform whilst I was boarding the Cally Sleeper late one evening at Euston was a bit disconcerting with an abrupt "are you getting this train" (""Uhhh, yes?"""). Although I did get chatting to them before leaving and they were perfectly nice.
They aren't the norm, even there though. I've used Leeds station a lot for many years, and rarely seen armed police there - and when they are it's generally for an obvious reason (e.g. when there's a football match where trouble is highly likely).
Armed police elsewhere in the city centre are even rarer - don't recall seeing them in any of the shopping centres.
Doubtless - I guess there's another link here with masks. Many are reassured by them, but I'm quite the opposite. (The record of actions by armed police in the UK isn't great - again, a bit like masks
bramling
Veteran Member
Well, another vote for over the top - Dudley Zoo / Castle.
After having negotiated the pre-booking / must not arrive a minute late arrangements, the fun most certainly didn’t end there.
So straight away a briefing on entry, followed by the dreaded one-way system, which they’d done up in such a way that there was pretty much no option but to do the full circuit. So essentially pressured into going round as a procession, which hardly helped keep people apart.
Never far from warning signs, don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t touch this, this part closed, et cetera.
Then the absolute nonsense of requiring masks in a few under-cover parts. So on a damp day one was seriously expected to put on a soggy mask with hands which had been round a zoo. Many people (including us) were ignoring this, though we managed an under-the-breath comment from two women, which was responded to not only in kind but paid back with substantial interest added!
Not impressed to be honest, especially for something virtually entirely outdoors. I felt the measures added a highly oppressive element to the visit, and wearing a mask round a zoo takes the biscuit, the last thing one wants to be doing is anything involving the face - but of course Covid is the only thing which matters.
The most amateurish and useless government in our lifetimes.
Think we’ll stick with the disused railway tunnels and give attractions a miss!
After having negotiated the pre-booking / must not arrive a minute late arrangements, the fun most certainly didn’t end there.
So straight away a briefing on entry, followed by the dreaded one-way system, which they’d done up in such a way that there was pretty much no option but to do the full circuit. So essentially pressured into going round as a procession, which hardly helped keep people apart.
Never far from warning signs, don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t touch this, this part closed, et cetera.
Then the absolute nonsense of requiring masks in a few under-cover parts. So on a damp day one was seriously expected to put on a soggy mask with hands which had been round a zoo. Many people (including us) were ignoring this, though we managed an under-the-breath comment from two women, which was responded to not only in kind but paid back with substantial interest added!
Not impressed to be honest, especially for something virtually entirely outdoors. I felt the measures added a highly oppressive element to the visit, and wearing a mask round a zoo takes the biscuit, the last thing one wants to be doing is anything involving the face - but of course Covid is the only thing which matters.
The most amateurish and useless government in our lifetimes.
Think we’ll stick with the disused railway tunnels and give attractions a miss!
Another vote for Costa Coffee in North Berwick, East Lothian, where you can't sit inside if you don't have a smartphone that can scan the QR code. Apparently this is due to data protection rules/Scottish government rules/or any other excuse that you care to make up. Never mind the fact that anywhere else in Scotland I have been over the past six days, including another cafe on North Berwick High Street, or other branches of Costa Coffee that I have visited since the end of lockdown, have been happy to take my contact details manually.
In the coming recession, those establishments that have a good attitude to customer service will be the ones that survive, and the ones staffed by jobsworths will disappear.
In the coming recession, those establishments that have a good attitude to customer service will be the ones that survive, and the ones staffed by jobsworths will disappear.
Wonder how many people with smartphones are pretending to scan it? Do the staff have any way of checking?
I have seen a couple of places where staff check that you have got to the success page before seating you, but in general no they aren't checking
birchesgreen
Established Member
I was in a Costa at the weekend, no one cared if i scanned the QR code or not. The signs were around though the staff didn't mention it.
The local one near to me has it stuck up in the front window!
Somewhere else I went to wanted me to scan a QR code, but when I said I didn't have a smartphone, the waiter used his own phone to scan the QR code and then put in my details. So for every problem there is a solution, if you are prepared to look for it.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Today I went to the Maccy D's at Perth Broxden P&R, and they had a member of staff on the door making you scan the QR code and complete details before even letting you in, and he insisted on seeing your phone screen to see if you had.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Track and Trace info is a legal requirement in Scotland but optional (unless the business chooses to make it mandatory) in England, hence the difference.
Baxenden Bank
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OK, perhaps I missed it upthread, but can someone explain what 'scanning the QR code is' and 'how is it done' please?
I have a smart phone, I know generally what a QR code is, but what am I scanning, what is it taking from my phone, what is it giving to my phone? Do I need to download a QR app, or a specific Costa Coffee (example) app?
Can't wait for the elderly mother to be asked to scan a QR code when she next goes to the medical centre (for GP), for a hospital appointment or to do basic shopping - if she is ever allowed out of the house up in Lancashire of course (she is a shielder).
I have a smart phone, I know generally what a QR code is, but what am I scanning, what is it taking from my phone, what is it giving to my phone? Do I need to download a QR app, or a specific Costa Coffee (example) app?
Can't wait for the elderly mother to be asked to scan a QR code when she next goes to the medical centre (for GP), for a hospital appointment or to do basic shopping - if she is ever allowed out of the house up in Lancashire of course (she is a shielder).
Tell you what. No random spotty youth is looking at my phone screen.
My QR app beeps. If they miss that, that's not my problem.
py_megapixel
Established Member
Basically a QR code can be used to encode any kind of data used by a computer.
In this case they are being used to encode a website address. To "scan" the QR code, you open the Camera app on an iPhone, or a specific app on Android. You then hold the phone's camera close to the QR code, and it can read the data encoded in the QR code. When it sees that the QR code encodes a web address, it directs you to that website in whatever the default web browser on your phone is.
There's no need to install a specific Costa app. If you have an iPhone then you don't need to download an app to scan QR codes. If you're on Android then you have to download one of hundreds of QR scanning apps
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
While you are within your rights to take that view, it does seem a little extreme.
They are, of course, entirely within their rights to turn you away if you refuse to show them that you have completed Test & Trace.
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I'll happily fill in a bit of paper for them. If they want to exclude customers who don't want to/are not able to use a QR reader, that's their outlook. But demanding to view phone screens is an invasion of privacy. I draw your attention to the long running saga of rail enthusiasts versus over zealous security.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Love the stereotype - it was a middle-aged bloke doing it, possibly one of the managers.
In which case I've probably just paid him the biggest compliment he's had in years
py_megapixel
Established Member
Paper is likely to be an administrative nightmare, especially for chains who are doing it in a centralised manner.
I'm sure you can imagine how much easier it is to look at a list of names and phone numbers on a computer, than to have to sift through sheets of paper.
As I said, you are entirely within your rights to insist on doing Test & Trace a specific way. However, they are perfectly entitled to turn you away if you refuse to comply with their procedures.
It's similar to dress codes. It is entirely legal for you to turn up to a "formal" restaurant wearing ripped-jeans and a T-shirt, but they are under no obligation to serve you and may ask you to leave the premises.
Baxenden Bank
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That mostly explains it, thanks.
I am an Android user so would have to download an App. Presumably I then enter my contact details into the website that the QR code scan has opened?
Has anyone thought of simply identyfying which phone was within 1m vicinity of someone who susequently tests positive and automatically notifying that phone. Some kind of 'track and trace App'. Oh yes, we have had a world beating version since May!
py_megapixel
Established Member
Correct. The one I use is the Kaspersky one (link to Google Play Store) which works really well, I've had no problems with it. (I was wrong about Google Lens).
Yes. It's a webform, just like any other.
Probably not. The built in camera app has been reading QR codes on my Android phones for at least 5 years, and I've never heard of Google Lens
py_megapixel
Established Member
Really? Mine doesn't, and I bought my phone last year.
Google Lens is a Google app that used to scan QR codes but doesn't anymore.
I hope that is the case. It's commercial natural selection. I refuse to do business with outlets that point thermometers at customers or insist on masks and their demise will not be a surprise.
Those outlets that share my views on the pointlessness of mask wearing and other obsessive Covid behaviour get my repeat business and I look forward their future success.
I see Nicola Sturgeon has locked down Glasgow for around 50-60 cases per day (no deaths still). I’m, frankly, absolutely sick of her completely unworkable, out-of-proportion response to this pandemic. She is absolutely hellbent on elimination and won’t open us up until this is achieved (which, at this point, it cannot feasibly be).
(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-scotland-53997552)
I’m genuinely getting so sick of her attempt to do the impossible and still eliminate this virus, and the damage she’s going to do if she keeps pursuing this unrealistic strategy is going to be extremely significant and, I fear, irreversible.
(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-scotland-53997552)
I’m genuinely getting so sick of her attempt to do the impossible and still eliminate this virus, and the damage she’s going to do if she keeps pursuing this unrealistic strategy is going to be extremely significant and, I fear, irreversible.
RomeoCharlie71
Established Member
Hardly. You just can't visit someone else's home and essential visits to hospitals only.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Does that mean no visiting people in hospital (which I thought was already the case)? Nobody else really goes to a hospital unless they need to, it's hardly a fun day out!
If it means they are cancelling "discretionary" surgery that's bad.
RomeoCharlie71
Established Member
Sorry - "only essential indoor visits will be allowed in hospitals and care homes" - I should have made that clearer.
Absolutely. If you're over 18 and you've got the cash and the liver to accommodate seeing other people in pubs, and you weren't planning on going to stay with anybody in the near future, then you're golden. I mean that's basically everyone right? Honestly they should be thanking the first minister for her generosity
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