‘Leicester lepers’ not welcome at holiday parks, campsites and hotels as coronavirus lockdown lifts for rest of UK
“LEICESTER lepers” will not be welcome at holiday parks, campsites and hotels this weekend, as lockdown restrictions ease for the rest of the UK.
Residents have already been warned by holiday hotspots set to reopen on July 4, with many explicitly banning anyone from locked down Leicester.
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The city became the first city in England to be put into local lockdown this week, with residents urged against all non-essential travel to and from the area.
Holiday parks and hotels set to open in England this weekend are now clamping down on the rules, with hotspots like Cornwall and Skegness banning Leicester locals.
Pentewan Sands holiday park, near St Austell in Cornwall, dished out the crushing news on Facebook, saying it was no longer open to visitors from the locked down city.
A statement from the holiday park read: “Any guests who are impacted by these changes, or who are concerned about travelling, will be able to transfer their holiday or request a refund.”
‘LEICESTER LEPERS’
The news has left many holiday makers in limbo, with Tracey Jebbett of West Knighton in Leicester, telling the BBC: “We’re like the Leicester lepers.”
Tracy, who was set to visit the holiday park on July 11, added: “I understand it’s for the safety of the people camping there and the staff, but we have adhered to the lockdown guidelines 110% and feel we are being penalised.
“We are regulars there and had been looking forward to it, but I felt like a bit of a Leicester leper when I saw the post.”
Holiday sites across Cornwall, including Hendra holiday park, the county’s biggest independent holiday park, also announced they would ban guests from Leicester.
‘WE ARE WORRIED’
Officials in Skegness are also worried, with fears that people in Leicester will want to travel to the nearest seaside resort.
Tony McGinty, assistant director of Public Health Lincolnshire, said: “We are worried.
“Our appeal to the people of Leicester in their time of trouble would be to consider how they can stop the problem they have there coming into the surrounding areas.”
The British Holiday and Home Parks Association said it would be publishing guidance to caravans, while encouraging people living in Leicester not to visit the Lincolnshire coast.
Linda Jones, who is reopening her Lyndsay Guest House in the area on Saturday, said: “We can’t let anybody in from the wards that have been cordoned off.
“Leicestershire isn’t all covered so there are some who can still come to Skegness, but we have a map of where not to take from. Like everything we have to follow the rules.”
TURNED AWAY
Leicester’s lockdown means cooped-up locals will no longer be able to join the rest of England for ‘Super Saturday’ this weekend.
On July 4, pubs, restaurants and hotels are set to reopen across England – but Leicester’s businesses will stay shut.
Pubs in nearby Nottingham have said they will demand drinkers show council tax bills to prove they are not from the locked down area.
And pre-booked pub sessions by Leicester-based punters have already been cancelled by Nottingham boozers.
Robert Glasby, manager of the Playhouse bar and kitchen, said: “I understand these are drastic measures, and in some cases will not be fair, but these are precautions we must take to ensure our city and its people are safe.
“However unfortunately, due to the recently enforced local lockdown, our pubs and bars will not be accepting bookings or walk-ins from anyone within the Leicester lockdown area.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock tightened restrictions on Leicester and nearby suburbs on Monday, ordering non-essential shops to close and urging people not to travel in or out of the area.
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Around 866 people in Leicester were found to have had Covid-19 in the last two weeks.
Almost 3,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the city since the start of the pandemic.
There have been outbreaks at food production facilities.