Raise bar on Track & trace
Half of pubs don’t ask for ID Warning of a new lockdown risk
PUBS are being warned they are in the last-chance saloon if they don’t stick to rules to stop a second deadly wave of Covid.
A Sunday People investigation indicates more than HALF our boozers are failing to record contact details of drinkers which are vital for the NHS test-andtrace system to limit outbreaks.
Our findings raise worrying new questions about the effectiveness of the system which is a cornerstone of the Government’s plan to control the pandemic.
And they come after local councils called for new powers to close down pubs and clubs that fail to take customer details and break social distancing rules.
Drinkers are meant to leave a name and phone number so they can be tracked down if any other customer tests positive for the virus.
But f ewer than half of the pubs we visited asked our investigators to leave their details.
We chose four cities and checked pubs run by five of the biggest UK chains.
Out of 20 pubs, 11 failed to take customers’ details. Three were owned by Mitchells and Butlers, three by Greene King, two by Marston’s, two by Wetherspoon, and one by Stonegate.
It is only five weeks since the nation’s 47,000 pubs were allowed to reopen after a three- month l ockdown which cost t he hospitality industry £30billion in lost sales.
This we week bars in Stone, Staffs, and Aberdeen have b been forced to close after being linked to outbreaks. La Last night public hea health experts and po politicians warned p pub bosses to
WARNING: Labour’s Huq toughen up their system or face another lockdown. Labour MP Rupa Huq told us: “Pubs were closing at the rate of 12 a week before the pandemic. This could really be last orders for them.”
Mass closure would be a devastating blow to the battered sector which employs 600,000 people. It would also be an embarrassing setback for Boris Johnson, who talked of the “ancient and inalienable right” of people to go to the pub when he announced lockdown in March.
Labour MP Toby Perkins,
chairman of the all-party parliamentary group on pubs, said: “I urge every pub to follow strict ‘ in and out’ and distancing rules. It is imperative they do all they can to enforce the rules because we don’t want to see the good ones closing because of the bad.
“A lot of pubs are struggling and it would be a real worry if they had to close because of the actions of others.”
Public health expert Prof Gabriel Scally of the Royal Society of Medicine says ministers’ failure to impose a single tracing strategy for pubs echoed their overall handling of the crisis.
The professor said infection rates were higher in enclosed spaces such as pubs. He added: “Contact tracing and the subsequent testing is what really breaks the chain of infection.”
Pub owners say they can’t force customers to sign up.
Nik Antona of the Campaign for Real Ale said: “The Government’s guidance on track and trace methods for pubs leaves a great deal up to interpretation. Pubs are encouraged to collect information in a way that is manageable for their establishment, which offers a lot of flexibility for licensees and owners.
“A customer’s experience may vary greatly from pub to pub or day to day, depending on who’s behind the bar.”
Tory MP and parliamentary beer group chairman Mike Wood added: “Pubs cannot afford another national lockdown. The only way we avoid that is if all bars and customers play their part in keeping the risk of outbreaks as low as possible.”
Industry bosses say no pub has been able to reopen without doing a rigorous risk assessment and implementing measures such as better hygiene, screens and offering table service to keep customers and staff safe.
Emma Mcclarkin, of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: “We are all working hard to restrict the transmission of the virus.
“Our sector is desperately trying to recover and provide a much-needed hub for communities across the UK during these challenging times.”