English beaches packed despite Covid-19 social
distancing plea
Tens of thousands descend on south coast on hottest
day of the year
Steven
Morris
@stevenmorris20
Fri 31 Jul
2020 16.48 BSTLast modified on Fri 31 Jul 2020 17.10 BST
Busy
Bournemouth beach
Bournemouth council asked people to steer
clear of some areas because physical distancing was not possible.
Tens of
thousands of people descended on beaches on the south coast of England on the
hottest day of the year, prompting some local authorities to plead with people
to stay away so that social distancing could be maintained.
While many
parts of the north of England were facing a fresh lockdown, stretches of
beaches at Bournemouth, Poole and Brighton were packed.
At
Bournemouth, where a major incident was declared last month because the beach
was so busy, the council asked people to steer clear of some areas because
physical distancing was not possible.
Despite the
warnings, groups of up to 50 teenagers, and men and women in their early 20s
gathered. Security guards removed some men who were drinking under the pier but
no attempts were made to close the beaches or to to ask people to leave.
One
sun-seeker, 18-year-old Lizzie Jones from Portsmouth, who was on the beach with
a dozen friends, said she felt perfectly safe and didn’t feel she was putting
anyone at risk. “We’re out here in the fresh air. People are a bit close but I
don’t think there’s much of a danger,” she said.
Some car
parks were full, prompting scores of people to abandon their vehicles
illegally.
A digital
sign informed people that the beach was “too busy”. A new app produced by the
local authority, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council, urged people to
avoid long stretches of the beaches with the message: “Avoid, safe social
distancing not possible.”
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Tom, who
was on the beach with a group of school and college friends aged 17 and 18 who
had travelled to Bournemouth on the train from Southampton, said: “It feels
safe to me. I don’t know anyone who has had coronavirus. Until I do I don’t
think it will feel real to me.”
Local
people were wary. Rod Underhill, 65, was sunbathing outside his beach hut. He
said it was clear that large groups of young people were not social distancing.
But he said: “We’ve worked out our route to and from the beach to make sure
we’ll avoid the worst of it. You just have to be sensible.”
Vikki
Slade, the leader of BCP council, said the resorts were excited to welcome
people. She said Bournemouth and Poole were stretched in June when up to half a
million people arrived at a time when hotels, restaurants and pubs were closed.
“I was
appalled at the resulting littering, illegal parking, anti-social behaviour and
personal abuse that our hard-working teams had to deal with,” she said.
“As a
result of our experiences we have introduced marshals at busy car park
entrances, extended our security provision, enhanced our first-aid provision
and put additional traffic management plans in place.”
The council
and police were ready to set up road blocks and tow cars dangerously parked
away. Police officers were working for extended hours and leave was cancelled
for some.
Further
east, Brighton and Hove city council expressed fears over the number of people
on its beaches. It tweeted: “We’re concerned about the number of people in the
city. If you’re not already here, please don’t travel to the city today. There
is limited capacity on public transport. Large numbers make it impossible to
maintain physical distancing.”
In Kent,
Thanet council said some of its most popular strands were full. It tweeted:
“Please avoid our most popular beaches today as it’s now extremely busy. We
have 19 miles of coastline, so consider all the places you could visit or come
back at a quieter time.”
The Met
Office said the temperature reached 37.8C at Heathrow and 37.3C at Kew Gardens,
making it the third hottest day on the record in UK.
A “yellow
warning” was issued by the Met Office for thunderstorms valid from 4pm on
Friday until midnight across large parts of east and south-east England. Cooler
weather is expected for the weekend.
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