A Suffolk restaurant is demanding a ‘passport to eat’ from diners to prove they are not from a Tier 3 or 4 area.
Suffolk is currently in Tier 2, which means restaurants and bars can open to customers, though this has led to fears customers will flock to the region from higher coronavirus infection areas.
To combat this, one restaurant is now demanding customers prove what postcode they live in.
The Sail Loft is in Southwold, the fashionable resort on the Suffolk coast dubbed Chelsea-on-Sea because so many Londoners have second homes there, including celebs like Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.
Owner Jonathon Nicholson has put a sign on the front door saying ‘Dear Sail Loft customers. Only Tier 1 and 2 customers allowed in the restaurant.
‘Proof of postcode may be required. Sorry for the inconvenience. The Sail Loft team.’
The Sail Loft is in Southwold, Suffolk and has demanded customers prove they are not from Tier 3 or Tier 4 areas
Mr Nicholson, who lives in Saxmundham, said: ‘I am just trying to warn people to not come in from other areas.
‘We don’t want to interrogate people but what I think we’re doing is right, because I don’t want anyone coming from a Tier 4 area and causing more infections for us here.
‘I hope it puts people off in the festive period – however I think we will probably all end up in Tier 4 before long anyway.’
He says he doesn’t want to ‘interrogate’ customers, but he wants to protect his business shutdown because of Covid infections.
He fears holiday home owners have travelled to the coast from London after the tighter restrictions were introduced last week.
Owner Jonathon Nicholson made the decision
On the restaurant’s social media post, many people commented in support of the measure – with only a few objecting.
Pictures emerged on Saturday evening of crowds of passengers at London railway stations, sparking fears the virus could be spread to other parts of the country.
Southwold mayor Ian Bradbury said the town had become ‘rammed’ on Sunday morning, while Aldeburgh residents reported seeing a queue of traffic outside of the resort after the government’s announcement of the new tier on Saturday afternoon.
Coun Bradbury said ‘We are rammed – I think people are taking the mick.’
A spokesman for Suffolk police said today ‘We must all understand the dangers of the rapid spread of this new variant of Covid-19.
‘Most people will want to do the right thing to protect public health and the health of their loved ones.
‘We urge everyone to follow the rules and those who blatantly breach the regulations should expect to receive a fixed penalty notice.’
Tim Passmore, Suffolk’s police and crime commissioner, said ‘Suffolk is a fantastic place to visit, whether you’re a day-tripper or have a second home here, and we thoroughly enjoy sharing our beautiful county and all it has to offer.
‘However, we are living through difficult times and our public services, particularly our hospitals, are being challenged beyond anything experienced before.
‘For that reason I would urge all visitors, particularly those with second-homes in the county, to reconsider any plans to visit Suffolk for Christmas and the new year.
‘If you are living in Tier 4 the rules are perfectly clear, you should not travel out of the area so please do not come to Suffolk at this time.’
Meanwhile, a seaside pub boss slammed ‘heavy-handed’ police today after he says at least ten officers burst in and he ended up being fined for breaches of Covid-19 rules.
Chris Hopkins, who runs The Wayfarer at Instow, North Devon, said ‘We have gone out of our way to help the NHS and the police force, so to be treated like this, with 10-plus police officers coming through the door – it was almost like something off the TV, a crazy drugs raid.
‘We rely on customers being straight with us, that they are in social or family bubbles and we are struggling to police that – how do we enforce it or ask everyone if they are in these particular bubbles?
‘It is just the heavy-handed treatment by the police, one officer could have dealt with this.
‘It’s down to education by the council – we are reliant on listening to Boris’s little speeches and trying to pick out what’s relevant.
‘Every pub you go into in the area is doing slightly different things, it’s just a complete impossibility.’
The Sail Loft is in Southwold, the fashionable resort on the Suffolk coast dubbed Chelsea-on-Sea because so many Londoners have second homes there, including celebs like Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie
In a press release yesterday North Devon Council said the breaches had been for four incidents with fines totalling £4,000.
Mr Hopkins said the total fines that had been issued were £2,000 for two separate incidents and not £4,000 for four breaches as stated by the council.
He said the breaches had related to people having a meal who had been in a work bubble rather than a social or family bubble.
At the beginning of the pandemic and during the first lockdown, the pub provided free accommodation and food for health and emergency workers who were unable to stay with their families.
Mr Hopkins, the owner and licensee, said he had now taken the decision to close the pub until after the festive season.
He added ‘We need support from the council, not persecution – tell us what to do and we will do it.
‘Every licence holder across the county is in the same boat.’
The council said following complaints from the public, police visited the Wayfarer Inn on the evening of Friday December 18.
They found breaches of the Coronavirus Restrictions Regulations at the premises and customers were asked to leave.
The statement said the breaches were not having tables of different households adequately spaced, tables with people from several different households sitting at them and not checking that groups attending were from the same household.
‘As a result of the police visits and the evidence gained on body cameras,
North Devon Council has served two fixed penalty notices (FPNs) of £1,000 each on the licensee, as the person in control of the premises.
‘A follow up visit by the police on the evening of Saturday, December 19 found further breaches of the same regulations, leading to two further FPNs of £1,000 each for the licensee’ said the council.
Councillor David Worden, leader of the council, said ‘We are grateful for the vigilance of our residents who report incidents of Covid breaches to us, which we are then able to follow up with the police.
‘With the Covid infection rate rising in North Devon, incidents such as this not only put individuals at risk but also put the premises at risk of enforcement action.
‘This joint action with our police colleagues proves how seriously we are taking breaches of this legislation. It is there to save lives and we will not hesitate to act on any reports of people breaking the law and putting our local community at risk.
‘The number of cases within the age groups 20 to 39 and 40 to 59 has grown recently and so this is not an infection that is limited to older people. With the tiers being reviewed again over the Christmas period, we don’t want to see harsher measures introduced for the new year.’
North and West Devon Police Superintendent Toby Davies said ‘Officers have attended numerous licensed premises and businesses over the last few days.
‘It is pleasing to see that the vast majority are respecting the regulations and doing their utmost to comply with the tier legislation, so that staff and customers can enjoy themselves in a safe and Covid secure environment.
‘Sadly, however, a couple of premises visited were flagrantly disregarding the new measures with little social distancing and mixing of households. Where we witnessed blatant breaches, we have passed that evidence over to our two local authorities to consider formal action.
‘It is important to point out that nearly all licensed premises and businesses visited over the weekend were making every effort to comply with the guidance, despite the incredibly challenging situation we are all in.
‘Covid rates have been increasing significantly in our area over the last week, and we will continue to work with our local authorities to ensure we are doing everything possible to maintain the safety of our communities.
‘Regretfully, for the minority who persist in acting irresponsibly and choose to ignore our efforts to engage, explain and educate – I am afraid we are left with no other option than to take formal action.’
In other news, cleaners are refusing to dust and polish because families from Tier 3 – and now Tier 4 – are flouting the rules about not travelling and might bring infections with them.
The rebellion has led to extreme measures by families desperate to quit big cities for the wide open spaces of the north Norfolk coast which is in Tier 2.
Some are even ‘posting’ their suitcases and other luggage by courier ahead of them so if their car is stopped and checked by police, they can claim to be ‘just out for a ride locally’.
Sarah Butikofer, leader of North Norfolk District Council, said people from ‘worse’ tiers are craftily trying to sneak in.
‘I was absolutely staggered to find one family from Leicester had posted their luggage to Norfolk before them.
‘It was so that if they got stopped on their way out of Leicester with luggage in their car they would have been fined.
‘So they sent it ahead of them so they could come on holiday.’
The North Norfolk coast is highly popular and fashionable with second home and holiday cottage owners in towns and villages like Burnham Market, Hunstanton and Cromer.
The amazing lengths people are going to were revealed at a North Norfolk council meeting this week.
But the sneaky tactics are rebounding on holiday cottage owners, warned councillor Nigel Housden.
He said people employed to clean holiday homes in North Norfolk are ‘refusing to enter certain properties because they knew people from Birmingham, Manchester and London were staying in them’.
The cleaners are prepared to lose their wages rather than risk becoming infected by Tier 3 guests.
It will backfire on owners who will be faced with demands for a refund from tourists who arrive to find cottages haven’t been cleaned after the previous guests, and refuse to stay in ‘dirty’ conditions.
The cleaning brigade rebellion will force owners to double-check new arrivals aren’t sneakily coming from Tier 3 regions – or they’ll lose out financially.
It’s a recipe for confusion and anger, said Coun Housden.
‘Until we can get some control for people to stay in a restricted radius of their main residence we have a significant problem’ he said.
Mrs Butikofer, the Lib Dem leader of the council, said the authority had raised concerns with central government ‘again and again’ about people travelling to the county from areas with high rates of coronavirus.
But she admitted ‘If people are prepared to go to those lengths, then there is very little we can do to prevent that.
‘If people are moving from one area to another they will be bringing, or could potentially bring, coronavirus with them.
‘We will continue to lobby central government, we do ask central government regularly to put boundaries in place, but the problem is then how do you police it because unless you have got patrols on every road, people will find a way through.’
The owner of a two-bedroom holiday house in Totnes in South Devon has received 28 requests from people begging to stay there since Saturday’s shock Tier 4 announcement.
Edith Hargreaves, 62, said ‘We had friends of friends who had been passed our details contacting us.
‘They were offering us more money to take them and each had their own story about why they needed to stay.
‘One wanted it for eight weeks and was very insistent it had to be agreed on Saturday. Needless to say, we have not taken up their offers.’
People fleeing from Tier 4 risk being caught and hit in the pocket by ‘Big Brother’ spy cameras.
Automatic Number Plate Recognition can spot them speeding down motorways and ‘A’ roads and entering lower tiers in defiance of the new rules.
There are already reports of it happening – a woman recently got a £130 fine after her car was spotted on camera at Cheshire Oaks, the huge shopping centre in Ellesmere Port, near Liverpool.
The mother, in her forties and from Frodsham, Cheshire, didn’t want to be named but a family friend said ‘She is gutted – she was driving from one place to another and only stopped briefly at Cheshire Oaks.
‘The ANPR camera picked up her number plate and next thing she knew, she got a fine for breaking the rules about not travelling from one tier to another.
‘It’s like Big Brother, but on the oher hand, people deliberately flouting the rules are being silly and irrespomsible. It could cost lives.’
In October the Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, was criticised for saying people in Wales would ‘be on the lookout’ for English people driving over the border in contravention of travel rules.
Drakeford said police forces would carry out extra patrols and could use automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology to spot people who had travelled from distant locations.
He said police officers would explain the rules to people they found flouting the travel restrictions and encourage them to comply, but ultimately they could issue fixed-penalty notices.
North Wales police warned at the time that it ‘would be increasing our visibility on the strategic road network and undertaking targeted activity’, without going into detail.
Yesterday visitors to Four Kingdoms, an amusement park at Headley, near Kingsclere, Hants, in a Tier 3 area, said police were checking that they had not arrived from a Tier 4 area.