JENNI MURRAY

Why I fear the sinister rise of the Covid Marshal

NOW I’m 70, I allow myself two things which I consider to be essential to keep me sane and for which my mother would berate me for being unnecessarily extravagant. First, I send my white cotton sheets, duvet cover and pillowcases to the laundry. They come back pristine and pressed. Second, given my loathing of (and, I confess, incompetence at) having to insert a duvet into the cover or, indeed, of any form of housework, I employ a cleaner.

Adam comes to me once a week and roars around the house like a tornado, leaving the place immaculate. All was going to plan last week, Christmas Eve morning. The laundry had been returned and Adam was on his way. Just before 8am, my phone pinged. It was a text from Adam.

‘Hi Jenni. I was on my way to your house, but the inspector came on the bus and I have to go back home. Sorry about this.’

What?! As far as I knew, even in Tier 4, it was permissible to travel to your place of work if the job could not be done from your own home. Were we living in a police state?

Further investigation with Adam confirmed he had been on the bus, travelling to my house, when he was questioned by a ‘ London Transport officer’, who had asked him where he was going and for a letter from the company he works for. Of course, he didn’t have one.

Adam, who had been wearing a mask, was in such a state of shock, he couldn’t tell me how many others had been challenged. He got off the bus and went home.

I was outraged. The Government’s guidance for Tier 4 could not be clearer. ‘ To help contain the virus everyone who can work effectively from home should do so . . . Where it is necessary for you to work in other people’s homes — for example for nannies, cleaners or tradespeople — you can do so.’

So, what was Transport for London (TfL) up to?

A phone call and a long series of emails were exchanged between me and a helpful young woman, Lucy, from the TfL press office.

First she checked with their enforcement teams and found there is no requirement at present, as there was during the national lockdowns, to produce evidence of essential travel. No letter needed then.

Further investigation, after I gave her the bus number, prompted the fact that they didn’t have any enforcement officers working at the time. Curiouser and curiouser.

Lucy’s conclusion is that all deployments on December 24 were at bus stations and bus stops and not on buses. So, having thoroughly investigated Adam’s case, she finds it strange.

They have had examples before where people have impersonated ticket inspectors to get money from people who may not have

THERE paid their fare, but there was no financial interest involved here.

was financial interest involved for Adam, though. Not turning up to some employers might have meant a day’s pay would have been lost. It was not his fault that he was sent home and I have paid him, but I cannot understand why anyone would do such a cruel thing.

When the Government gave councils £30 million to fund ‘Covid Marshals’, this is what I feared might happen — busybodies suddenly flexing their power and control over other people’s lives with little thought as to the consequences.

Give some people a high-viz vest and tell them to order other people around and far too many jump at the chance. I don’t know if this was a Covid Marshal, but why use this wicked virus, which is making life miserable for us all, to throw your weight around and make yourself feel powerful at any time, let alone at Christmas?