Takeaways and council clash over enforcement
Chalvey: COVID rule-breakers bring trouble to Farnham Road eateries
Business owners and Slough Borough Council are trying to reduce gatherings in Farnham Road, but differ on how to approach the issue.
Business owners and Slough Borough Council are taking steps to reduce social gatherings in Farnham Road after the area was described as a ‘notorious’ hotspot for COVID-19 rule-breaking.
Slough Borough Council has said those visiting are doing ‘less popping in and more stopping’ at the stretch of takeaways, hanging around by their cars in groups.
The borough attempted to curb this by bringing in tougher parking restrictions, policing them more stringently and introducing double-step kerbs to stop cars driving over pavements to avoid pulling up on double yellow lines.
However this led to residents noticing more parked cars on residential streets during peak times.
This and the risk of injury from dangerous parking has led to a barrage of complaints coming into the council.
The council has also received complaints from the takeaway owners who said the increased policing was ‘authoritarian’.
“We don’t agree with the way they have gone about it,” said Bilal
Malik, owner of Grill Street.
“They have been quite authoritarian and have had a habit of sending a team down at our busiest times. We feel they need to be more responsive – we want to enter a dialogue.”
Bilal has also had to deal first-hand with the problems caused by the public ignoring the rules.
“People are coming in without masks, they’re coming as groups, coming in cars with five people,” he said.
“All the takeaways here are having the same problem. We feel unfairly judged by people – it’s not that we aren’t trying to be socially responsible.”
Bilal has now installed an electronic sign at Grill Street takeaway warning people about the dangers of coronavirus and to follow Government guidance.
The screen, which has been up for two weeks, contains a sequence of three messages – a reminder not to gather, a rundown of Government guidance and a reminder that no mask means no entry.
Originally the takeout was using stickers and static signs but found that these did not have enough of an impact.
Since installing the screen, he has noticed a drop in the number of people flouting the regulations.
“Where before a whole group might come inside, now I can see one person from the group comes instead,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the council said Farnham Road was ‘becoming notorious – and that’s not good for business.’
“Some of these takeaways are run by families where if one person falls ill, they have to close.
“We tried to educate and inform people but enforcement is the only thing that works,” she said.