Manchester-Scotland travel ban: ‘Families are torn apart as football fans mingle in the thousands,’ gran says

A pensioner who has not seen her grandson for almost two years because of the coronavirus pandemic has told of her heartache at a family holiday being cancelled due to the travel ban between Scotland and parts of Greater Manchester.

Susan Davies, 72, who lives in Bolton with husband Colin, has criticised Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon and said it was “hypocritical” to prevent families from reuniting by banning travel when Scotland fans were able to travel to England for the Euros and “mingle in their thousands.”

Susan, told i of her devastation at having a holiday reunion with her daughter and her family, who live in the Scottish Highlands, suddenly cancelled after Nicola Sturgeon imposed a travel ban between Scotland and areas of the Greater Manchester region with high Covid-19 cases.

Susan and Colin Davies haven’t seen their grandson who lives in Scotland for almost two years due to the pandemic. They believe Nicola Sturgeon is being a “hypocrite” by imposing a travel ban between Scotland and parts of Greater Manchester (Photo: Susan Davies)

The retired post office worker last saw her grandson in August 2019 when he was seven and a few months away from turning eight. But he will now celebrate his 10th birthday in a couple of months and she says nothing can bring back the precious time they have all lost out on.

“We were supposed to have gone up to see them at Christmas that year, but my husband was ill so we couldn’t go.” she explained.

“So we planned to go at Easter instead – but then Covid happened and everyone’s lives changed completely.”

Susan and Colin kept in touch with their daughter and family via online video throughout the pandemic and were kept updated with their grandson’s life with regular photographs. But she says nothing makes up for spending time together in real life.

They were looking forward to finally being reunited and staying in a cottage in the Lake District together with their daughter, son-in-law and grandson and his other grandparents this weekend.

However, when the planned lifting of lockdown restrictions on June 21 was delayed by Boris Johnson, they booked a cottage in Newcastleton at the gateway to the Scottish Borders instead.

But she says Nicola Sturgeon’s ban on non essential travel between places including Manchester, Salford and Bolton means they cannot go and feel despondent as they do not know when they will next see their beloved grandson.

“When they are that age, time is precious and they change so much. We have missed out on spending time with him and were really looking forward to being together as a family,” she said.

“He is such a lovely little lad and we will never get this time back with him. At our age, we don’t know what is around the corner and we just take each day as it comes.”

Susan said that she and husband Colin have adhered to the rules throughout the pandemic and she feels angered by Nicola Sturgeon’s stance on targeting certain areas in Greater Manchester with the ban.

“The cottage we’d booked was in the middle of nowhere and we were just planning to stay there together and have quality time playing board games and having family time.” she said.

“We are not pub-goers and we do not go into crowds so wouldn’t have had contact with other people. We just wanted to be together.”

Susan added that she and her husband have had both doses of the Covid vaccine and they do Covid tests twice a week as a precaution.

They also do not visit into supermarkets and choose to order by click and collect for extra safety.

“We have sacrificed so much and obeyed all the rules to keep everyone safe.” she said. “We even celebrated our Golden Wedding anniversary last September alone by having a steak dinner at home.

“We’re just a family who wanted to catch up after so long of being torn apart and we feel like we’ve been robbed of something we were looking forward to so much.”

Susan hit out at Nicola Sturgeon’s “hypocrisy” for banning travel between Scotland and Greater Manchester when more than 20,000 Scottish football fans descended on London for the clash between Scotland and England at the Euros last week.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks to the media after receiving her second dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine at the NHS Louisa Jordan vaccine centre on June 21, 2021 in Glasgow. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JEFF J MITCHELL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speaks to the media in Glasgow. (Photo: Jeff J Mitchell/POOL /AFP)

“None of them seem to be socially distancing or wearing masks.” she said angrily. “It seems the same rules don’t seem to apply to football fans.

“Why is it OK for 20,000 of them to be mingling to watch people kick a ball in a field but six adults and one child aren’t allowed to get together in a house where they won’t mix with anyone else?

“Unlike football fans, families are being torn apart and to target certain areas of England is deeply unfair. It makes you feel unclean when they say they don’t want you.”

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has expressed his anger at Nicola Sturgeon’s ban between Scotland and parts of the region and is demanding the Scottish government compensate people who had planned to travel to Scotland and businesses that will lose bookings.

“I completely agree with Andy Burnham and people should be compensated for any losses,” Susan said. “But no amount of money can make up for the emotional loss of not being able to spend time with your family.”

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, adjusts his glasses as he talks to members of the media at the launch of a new clean air zone and cycle hire scheme in Manchester, Britain, June 21, 2021. REUTERS/Phil Noble
Mayor of Greater Manchester says Nicola Sturgeon has “insulted” Manchester with her travel ban REUTERS/Phil Noble Photographer: PHIL NOBLE Provider: REUTERS Source: X01988

The row between Burnham and Sturgeon has intensified as the Greater Manchester mayor accused her of “insulting” Manchester’s reputation by banning travel to parts of the region.

The First Minister retaliated by saying his spat was motivated by his desire to boost his public profile to increase his chances of becoming the next Labour leader.

Burnham accused the Scottish government of treating the North of England with the “same contempt” as the UK government does. 

Sturgeon has said she is “confused” by Burnham’s reaction as he did not raise the issues when travel restrictions were imposed on Bolton in May. Manchester and Salford have now been added to the ban on non-essential travel.

Burnham later wrote a letter to Sturgeon demanding to know why the travel ban had been imposed when Bolton’s case rate was 269 per 100,000 and Dundee’s is 300 per 100,000.

Derek Austin, 66, who is married to Joan and lives in Bolton, told i they had booked a cottage in Fife several months ago and were looking forward to a break in Scotland.

However, when the Scottish government imposed a ban on people from Bolton going to Scotland, he said they contacted the cottage owner who told them to contact Tripadvisor – but when they did, they were told it was too late to get a refund.

Derek and Joan Austin cancelled their holiday to Fife due to the travel ban and lost money as a result (Photo: Derek Austin)

The couple decided to cancel as they felt it was the right thing to do, but they lost £360 which they have reluctantly put down to experience.

“It is just really annoying the way this whole thing has been handled,” he said. “We have both been double jabbed and we would have been happy to take tests to prove we were Covid-free before going to Scotland.

“That would have been a fairer way of doing things rather than imposing a travel ban on people out of the blue.”



from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3iXDCra

Post a Comment

[blogger]

MKRdezign

Contact Form

Name

Email *

Message *

copyright webdailytips. Powered by Blogger.
Javascript DisablePlease Enable Javascript To See All Widget