advertisement


Advice on travel from England to Scotland.

Bob McC

Bob McC

Living the life of Riley
I need some advice on a dilemma.

I found out today that an 80 year old relative who lives in Scotland on her own has to have her bladder removed because of cancer.
She has no other living relatives.
I live in England.
My wife and I would like to go to Scotland to stay with her after her two week hospital stay to help her settle back in and set up the care packages, cleaning help, etc.. that we know she won’t set up for herself, believing she can manage.

I believe we can do this as she can be in a support bubble with us but I need to find out definitively if we can. I don’t want a big fine and turning back at Gretna!

I have ploughed through the Scottish govt covid advice and am still unsure.

Anyone here know themselves for certain or where I can get a definitive answer from?
 
All Scotland is in lockdown and my town has signs saying 'no tourists welcome' or words to that effect right now, but, I think I agree with monkfish...phone the police in the nearest town to your relative and explain. That'll sort travel legality, then there's 'where to stay, which may be even harder, unless you can be at her home?

If you can say where you are going I might be able to find out more, esp if it's SW near me?
 
The guidance in Scotland includes this as an example of a reason why you could travel between the rest of the UK and Scotland:
  • travel to provide care, assistance, support to or respite for a vulnerable person
https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-travel-and-transport/#exceptions

This appears to be the guidance on support bubbles - so I think with a combination of that and the travel advice I think you should be fine.

Can I form a support bubble or extended household?
  • If you live alone or are a single parent with children under the age of 18, you can form a ‘support bubble’ or ‘extended household’ with one other household.
  • If you live separately to your partner, you and any children you each live with may form an extended bubble.
This will mean you can behave as one household. You can spend time together inside each other’s homes, including overnight, without needing to be socially distant.
 
Rockmeister said:
All Scotland is in lockdown and my town has signs saying 'no tourists welcome' or words to that effect right now, but, I think I agree with monkfish...phone the police in the nearest town to your relative and explain. That'll sort travel legality, then there's 'where to stay, which may be even harder, unless you can be at her home?

If you can say where you are going I might be able to find out more, esp if it's SW near me?
Click to expand...
Uphall outside Edinburgh
We will stay at her house.
 
Bob McC said:
I need some advice on a dilemma.
I found out today that an 80 year old relative who lives in Scotland on her own has to have her bladder removed because of cancer.
She has no other living relatives.
Click to expand...
Really sorry to hear this. Went through bladder cancer with my father. Wishing your relative the best and hope you can be there for her.
 
Fat lot of good Police Scotland are.
They will not issue advice on travel and just refer you to the Scottish government website which I have read from cover to cover and am still not sure.
I’m not leaving on her own to face that anyway.
 
Bob McC said:
Fat lot of good Police Scotland are.
They will not issue advice on travel and just refer you to the Scottish government website which I have read from cover to cover and am still not sure.
Click to expand...

I think you're free to apply a reasonable interpretation to the rules if they won't clarify them, and I think you've a good case for what you're planning being within the law. Especially given you've clearly tried to clarify the situation.
 
Bob McC said:
Fat lot of good Police Scotland are.
They will not issue advice on travel and just refer you to the Scottish government website which I have read from cover to cover and am still not sure.
I’m not leaving on her own to face that anyway.
Click to expand...

From the latest version of the guidance at https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-stay-at-home-guidance/

"Examples of reasonable excuses to go out:
  • to provide care, assistance, support to or respite for a vulnerable or disabled person"
and from https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-travel-and-transport/

"Travel between Scotland and the rest of the UK, Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man
Under current Scottish law, given the state of the epidemic, unless you have a reasonable excuse (see exceptions)

Exceptions
The restrictions let you leave your home in a Level 4 area, and travel between areas in Levels 3 and 4 where you have a “reasonable excuse” for essential travel. The exceptions for Level 3 and Level 4 are different.

Exceptions for travel in Level 4 (mainland Scotland and certain islands)
  • travel to provide care, assistance, support to or respite for a vulnerable person
  • travel to participate in or facilitate shared parenting or between two parts of an extended household"
The police advice is that you must be able to explain why your journey is for an excepted purpose if challenged although there is no requirement to carry paperwork etc. If I were you I'd make sure I had some evidence of where you were going and the personal details of your relative to hand just to be sure though.

Good luck

Iain.
 
Bob McC said:
Fat lot of good Police Scotland are.
They will not issue advice on travel and just refer you to the Scottish government website which I have read from cover to cover and am still not sure.
I’m not leaving on her own to face that anyway.
Click to expand...
Bob, my interpretation of the rules is the same as SteveG’s.
 
By coincidence, I’m driving up tomorrow, from Merseyside to Fife

Ive also been scouring the Scot Gov web page today, and have found, and taken a picture on my I pad of the “exceptions” mentioned above.

It does feel a bit non definitive, and open to interpretation.

I’m going to visit my mum. Almost 86 and struggling badly with the isolation/loneliness thing.

I haven’t seen her since early November, (I started a thread here at the time, looking for advice) and we have been holding off hoping that things would open up, allowing me to visit.
No sign of that in the short term , so I’m going to risk it.

Ive had my vaccination. So has she, and it will just be the two of us.

If I do get pulled over by the police, I’m hoping I will be able to justify the trip on the grounds of the deteriorating mental health of my mum.

I wont stopping at any motorway service stations, as that would seem the obvious place for police to question folks.

Open to any advice.
 
Iain Docherty said:
The police advice is that you must be able to explain why your journey is for an excepted purpose if challenged although there is no requirement to carry paperwork etc. If I were you I'd make sure I had some evidence of where you were going and the personal details of your relative to hand just to be sure though.
Click to expand...
If you’ve got a copy of the guidance, and OP I’d print out and carry a copy of the police declining to advise, which shows you tried to do the right thing, then even if you get a ticket, my guess would be you could get it overturned.
 
I doubt you'd get a ticket, in fact I doubt you'd see any Police as they're juggling a lot just now. Watch out for curtain twitchers though when you get to Uphall and if you spot a neighbor, just let it be known why you're there and it'll get around fast and you'll be fine.

If you need any help just let me know as I'm not far at all in Balerno.
 
I've been travelling regularly to help care for my elderly mother for the entirety of the pandemic. It's an allowable exception and there's no need to waste the police's time asking for information that's easily found. I haven't been stopped, by the way. There's quite a lot of traffic on the road now.
 
Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
If you’ve got a copy of the guidance, and OP I’d print out and carry a copy of the police declining to advise, which shows you tried to do the right thing, then even if you get a ticket, my guess would be you could get it overturned.
Click to expand...
The police are not allowed to advise. They are not lawyers.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top