UK face coverings discussion

[island]

I was instructed to put a mask on on the (outdoor) platforms at St. Erth station this morning by someone who was apparently a member of GWR staff.

I replied “they aren’t required outdoors” and she said “they are, I’m afraid, on the platform”. I ignored her and walked away (without putting a face covering on), and nothing else happened.

Had similar issues at St Ives on the way back, made moot by the train pulling in. Quite a rude staff member too; I showed her on the Government website where it said they’re only required indoors and she said “I don’t want to read it, I just want you to wear a face covering”.

Thankfully GWR staff outside of the St Ives Bay line have been applying the rules correctly, so it is probably a local area management issue. I’ve put in a complaint to GWR, not that anything will come of it.

 

[Huntergreed]

I don't know if it related but since mask wearing became mandatory, I have been experiencing more niggling mouth ulcers than I can ever remember!

Absolutely agree with this - I’ve had quite a few in the last month or so, one of which was rather sore! Seems like more than just a coincidence, but who knows.

 

[bramling]

Noticably worse, I've found, since the staff of many places have been mandated to wear them.

Which sort of demonstrates a lot of the nastiness is “it’s so unfair I’m wearing one and he’s not”, as opposed to anything more intelligent.

If they’re so popular than how come only a small minority were choosing to wear them before that law changed?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 Sep 2020 ==

Had similar issues at St Ives on the way back, made moot by the train pulling in. Quite a rude staff member too; I showed her on the Government website where it said they’re only required indoors and she said “I don’t want to read it, I just want you to wear a face covering”.

Thankfully GWR staff outside of the St Ives Bay line have been applying the rules correctly, so it is probably a local area management issue. I’ve put in a complaint to GWR, not that anything will come of it.

I must admit I’d have been tempted to tell her to F off, especially if I wasn’t actually planning on getting on the train.

If it’s so unsafe, how come these people are so keen to be approaching people?

I’m just about ready to really explode at one of these vigilante idiots, especially the ones who are pursuing mission creep.

 

[island]

Ultimately I still need to use the railway to get home and cannot risk getting myself chucked off the network or into any similar trouble.

 

[Scotrail12]

Had an announcement in Glasgow Queen St of a guy with motor neurone disease thanking us for wearing masks and only travelling essentially. I thought those announcements were binned a few months ago?

 

[island]

Had an announcement in Queen St of a guy with motor neurone disease thanking us for wearing masks and only travelling essentially. I thought those announcements were binned a few months ago?

Masks have only been required on trains in Wales since last month or so, so it must be recent.

 

[Scotrail12]

Masks have only been required on trains in Wales since last month or so, so it must be recent.

Forgot to mention that it was Glasgow not Cardiff.

 

[221129]

Masks have only been required on trains in Wales since last month or so, so it must be recent.

Presumably describing Glasgow Queen St, where the announcements have been driveling on for months and months.

 

[bramling]

Presumably describing Glasgow Queen St, where the announcements have been driveling on for months and months.

Ive heard it in London too. There’s some done by children along the lines of “my daddy works for the NHS and he says you need to wear your mask to protect us all, otherwise my granny and grandad could die”. I really object to it - it’s simply brainwashing.

 

[Richard Scott]

Had an announcement in Glasgow Queen St of a guy with motor neurone disease thanking us for wearing masks and only travelling essentially. I thought those announcements were binned a few months ago?

Also fed up with the guilt trip we keep getting sent on over all this.

 

[island]

As of yesterday, the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Obligations of Undertakings) (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 (at section 2 (6)) require that, in respect of relevant premises, the occupier must either:

• Display a conspicuous notice at the entrance around the wearing of face coverings; or
• Take other steps to ensure anyone who enters the premises without wearing a face covering is informed of the requirements.

In either case, the information to be provided is that:

• A face covering must be worn on the premises
• unless you have an exemption
• or a reasonable excuse not to wear one

Notices are also meant to name the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings in a Relevant Place) Regulations 2020.

This applies in England to public transport stations (if they are enclosed *stares angrily at GWR*) and all the other usual places where face coverings must be worn, except public transport vehicles.

It follows from this that premises displaying notices which only state “face coverings must be worn”, “masks required for entry”, and the like but do not mention exemptions or reasonable excuses are breaking the law and can incur a £1,000 fine (increasing to £10,000 for multiple repeated offences). I would encourage reporting such premises to an appropriate authority.

 

[DB]

It follows from this that premises displaying notices which only state “face coverings must be worn”, “masks required for entry”, and the like but do not mention exemptions or reasonable excuses are breaking the law and can incur a £1,000 fine (increasing to £10,000 for multiple repeated offences). I would encourage reporting such premises to an appropriate authority.

Does this apply to shops as well (I could plough through the legislation, but I assume others have already done that!). If so, there are dozens even in the small town where I live who would fall foul of this rule.

 

[island]

Does this apply to shops as well (I could plough through the legislation, but I assume others have already done that!). If so, there are dozens even in the small town where I live who would fall foul of this rule.

Yes, this requirement applies to any premises in England (but not to public transport vehicles) where face coverings must be worn.

 

[VauxhallandI]

Yes, this requirement applies to any premises in England (but not to public transport vehicles) where face coverings must be worn.

So exceptions don’t apply on trans?

 

[island]

So exceptions don’t apply on trans?

The requirement to display a notice about face coverings does not apply on trains.

 

[VauxhallandI]

The requirement to display a notice about face coverings does not apply on trains.

Right sorry I get you now but presumably they will have already displayed the correct notice at the entrance to the station

 

[island]

If the station is entirely non-enclosed then no notice is required to be displayed, though it would not be a problem for a notice to be displayed stating that a face covering is required once one boards.

 

[MattA7]

My exemption lanyard which I ordered on eBay came today so I’m hoping that I will feel a bit less anxious about going out but who knows nearer the time.

 

[sheff1]

Notices are also meant to name the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Wearing of Face Coverings in a Relevant Place) Regulations 2020.

This applies in England to public transport stations (if they are enclosed *stares angrily at GWR*) and all the other usual places where face coverings must be worn, except public transport vehicles.

It follows from this that premises displaying notices which only state “face coverings must be worn”, “masks required for entry”, and the like but do not mention exemptions or reasonable excuses are breaking the law and can incur a £1,000 fine (increasing to £10,000 for multiple repeated offences). I would encourage reporting such premises to an appropriate authority.

Who/what is an appropriate authority ? There are a number of premises I would happily report if I thought that action would be taken.

 

[MikeWM]

My exemption lanyard which I ordered on eBay came today so I’m hoping that I will feel a bit less anxious about going out but who knows nearer the time.

I don't know if my experience will help, but I've just spent three maskless days on the south coast during which I've frequented a lot of trains, two hotels, two cinemas, a lot of shops (and shopping centers), and some takeaways. I wear a lanyard on the train but not for anything else. Happy to say I wasn't challenged or confronted once.

(One guard did look at my lanyard and said 'ok, thanks' before I had chance to look up from what I was reading...)

On that subject, thumbs up for Southern - every manual announcement, every PIS message, and every automatic announcement (except for one), mentioned the existence of exemptions.

 

[island]

Who/what is an appropriate authority ? There are a number of premises I would happily report if I thought that action would be taken.

Police or local council.

 

[DelayRepay]

It follows from this that premises displaying notices which only state “face coverings must be worn”, “masks required for entry”, and the like but do not mention exemptions or reasonable excuses are breaking the law and can incur a £1,000 fine (increasing to £10,000 for multiple repeated offences). I would encourage reporting such premises to an appropriate authority.

My local newsagent has a home made sign saying 'Please wear a face covering'. I guess I could report him to the police and see him fined, but I could also remember the way he kept his shop open when others in the area closed, the way he set up a delivery service for those self isolating when there were no supermarket slots available, and the way he helped to open a 'pop up shop' in the next village when their real shop had to close due to the owner being taken ill.

He is doing his best and the last thing we need is him getting into trouble with the law for displaying the wrong poster.

 

[VauxhallandI]

My local newsagent has a home made sign saying 'Please wear a face covering'. I guess I could report him to the police and see him fined, but I could also remember the way he kept his shop open when others in the area closed, the way he set up a delivery service for those self isolating when there were no supermarket slots available, and the way he helped to open a 'pop up shop' in the next village when their real shop had to close due to the owner being taken ill.

He is doing his best and the last thing we need is him getting into trouble with the law for displaying the wrong poster.

There is a half way house of helping him by pointing out that he needs to update the sign

 

[Scrotnig]

My view is that "snitching" is not on, full stop. Even if I happen to agree with the reasons for the law believed to have been transgressed. I don;t want the country turned into a nation of snitchers.

So, I firmly believe shops and businesses SHOULD point out there are exemptions but I'm not going to snitch on any that don't. I'll simply not give them my business.

 

[35B]

My view is that "snitching" is not on, full stop. Even if I happen to agree with the reasons for the law believed to have been transgressed. I don;t want the country turned into a nation of snitchers.

So, I firmly believe shops and businesses SHOULD point out there are exemptions but I'm not going to snitch on any that don't. I'll simply not give them my business.

Does that extend to all laws? I get very uncomfortable when I see terms like "snitch" or "grass" used about reporting crimes, because the extension - which I don't assume of you - is that we, as individuals, should not in any way get involved with reporting or aiding the prosecution of crime.

 

[jumble]

Absolutely disgusting, and I sincerely hope he gets fired.

Why on earth do the authorities allow this ?
One can say what one likes about TFL but they would never allow this stupidity to happen on a tendered London Bus.
If anyone did this to my offspring they would find me becoming extremely noisy and threatening them with the equality act

 

[DB]

There is a half way house of helping him by pointing out that he needs to update the sign

Indeed - I don't think it would be on to report a shop for just having the wrong wording. However, if they follow it up with hostility towards non-mask wearers then it might be justified - but I'm not really keen on this sort of snitching to the authorities. If it it was a chain shop I would report it to their customer services instead and see if things improved.

 

[jumble]

My view is that "snitching" is not on, full stop. Even if I happen to agree with the reasons for the law believed to have been transgressed. I don;t want the country turned into a nation of snitchers.

So, I firmly believe shops and businesses SHOULD point out there are exemptions but I'm not going to snitch on any that don't. I'll simply not give them my business.

I agree 100% and enjoy asking people who favour snitching what they would have done if they had been neighbours of Anne Frank
Having said this shops that claim it is the law without mentioning exemptions need to be called out for telling blatant lies

 

[DB]

Does that extend to all laws? I get very uncomfortable when I see terms like "snitch" or "grass" used about reporting crimes, because the extension - which I don't assume of you - is that we, as individuals, should not in any way get involved with reporting or aiding the prosecution of crime.

That rather depends whether it's a crime or a "crime" - if you see someone attacking someone else, or breaking in to somewhere, then of course it should be reported. If the "crime" is not wearing a mask, or having a few more people round to visit than the permitted number, reporting this would be pretty obnoxious behaviour.

 

[jumble]

The Underground has now put out PA scripts (there’s no problem on the Underground which can’t be solved by an announcement, it seems!). The script mentions exemptions, but then ends with “it’s there to protect us all”. That I find utterly inflammatory, as it’s just encouraging people to turn on those not in a mask, exempt or otherwise.

It seems revenue are indeed now being deployed on mask inspections. One wonders what measures have been taken to protect their own safety - since people devoid of masks are clearly *so* dangerous, is it really appropriate for such staff to be approaching and remonstrating with such people at close range?

Or (and we'll possibly disagree here) a process was in place to obtain an exemption certificate.

I cannot see that an exemption certificate is very useful as it would be trivial for the determined to get one even if one could be persuade the GPs to issue such a thing
True story
My youngest had very bad headaches and his school attendance was such that the school wrote to us mandated that a gps note would be required next time ( Despite them knowing he was under the care a paediatric consultant)
I asked the sender of the letter exactly what she thought the surgery's reaction would be if I complied with the mandate
Her advice was just to ignore it as the council insisted they send it.
The GPs will not issue without being paid of that you can be sure