Our rushed restrictions lead to confusion

I thoroughly agree that we need restrictive measures in the current situation but these new coronavirus regulations seem to be causing many unnecessary problems.

For example, it states that it is an unacceptable reason to leave home for “buying paint and brushes simply to decorate”. The regulations prohibit the leaving of home without a “reasonable excuse”. The regulations do not define a reasonable excuse, they simply gives examples of what are reasonable excuses.

Nor do they say what is not a reasonable excuse. In my view, it is a reasonable excuse to leave home to buy paint and brushes if the person concerned is of the view that a bit of redecorating will help them preserve the sanity and maintain good mental health, or to keep out of the way of someone else in the household, to stop arguments as a result of confined living.

The problems have arisen because the government issued guidance before regulations were published and became law. This enabled certain police officers to use their own interpretation, which was totally off scale and unreasonable on their part. Some of the decisions have been ridiculous and devoid of common sense – even on the part of the courts who have not given enough thought to the issues. The police have been applying restrictive tests other than those envisaged by the regulations and that, therefore, is not law.

All this will give rise to the issues of the burden and standard of proof when arrests are made for ‘breaches’ of the regulations and there will doubtless be a field day for the lawyers at some stage. John Greenhill