Warnings issued as dozens ignore lockdown rules

Council gets tough on reckless businesses

Dozens of warnings have been issued to businesses across Kent for continuing to operate during lockdown.

Pubs, restaurants, barbers, eyelash bars, ice cream vans and shisha gardens are among those to have been found flouting the rules. Hundreds of complaints have poured in to local authorities, who have issued warnings to firms ignoring the regulations. In some cases, councils have hit businesses with prohibition notices - a tougher measure which effectively forces them to shut down.

Thanet District Council leads the way in taking this hardline approach, issuing eight such notices and a further 33 warnings.

The authority is also considering taking legal action against an unnamed business continuing to ignore the rules. Medway Council has this month used prohibition notices to force the closure of two barber shops in Gillingham and

Chatham following reports they were still open.

In Swale, 142 complaints have been made about traders continuing to operate, including car washes, caravan parks and ice cream vans. Six have received warning letters. Maidstone Borough Council says it has referred six complaints about retailers to Trading Standards to investigate. Most of the grievances raised concern car washes - which are not on the list of businesses which have to close under lockdown rules - takeaways and pubs.

Meanwhile, Dover District Council has issued five warnings to businesses after receiving 61 complaints.

In Ashford, pubs, restaurants and barbers were again the focus of 33 lockdown complaints, but the borough council told this paper is has not “evidenced” any flouting the rules. In nearby Folkestone and Hythe, 10 written warnings and one prohibition notice have been issued, while just one business in Tunbridge Wells has been warned. Gravesham Borough Council has received 87 complaints about businesses - among them building sites and barbers - but the council is taking a softer approach to other authorities in Kent.

“We have adopted an advice and education approach to dealing with businesses that have been subject of complaints about operations during the Covid-19 restrictions,” a spokesperson said.

“As such, we have not issued any formal warnings or prohibition notices.” Canterbury has also taken no formal action, and has “given advice” to 34 food premises about social distancing measures for customers waiting outside.

Tonbridge and Malling Borough Council says businesses are “behaving very responsibly” and it - along with Sevenoaks District Council - has yet to issue any formal warnings. Dartford Borough Council did not respond to a request for comment.

‘We have adopted an advice and education approach to dealing with businesses that have been subject of complaints’

Pubs are among the worst offenders