Coronavirus: Police accused of ‘overzealous’ crackdown on Easter eggs
Convenience stores selling Easter eggs have faced a crackdown from “overzealous” enforcement of the government’s coronavirus lockdown, according to the sector’s trade body.
Newsagents and off-licences have been allowed to stay open during the lockdown as the government has deemed them to be essential retailers, along with supermarkets and pharmacies.
Any shops deemed non-essential are under orders to close their doors to curb the spread of coronavirus in the UK.
However the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has said its members have faced “overzealous enforcement and a misreading of the rules” over whether products, such as Easter eggs, are essential items.
Local police authorities could be “interpreting rules in their own way and coming up with incorrect approaches”, it warned.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “The government have defined which stores can remain open, and that includes convenience stores including newsagents and off licences. There is no government definition of which products can be sold within those stores.
Police ‘mis-reading coronavirus rules’
“This is overzealous enforcement and a mis-reading of the rules. In the cases where officers have challenged retailers and shoppers in this way, it’s brought confusion, distracted retailers in the busiest weeks of their lives, and increased the interactions between people at a time when the government is trying to minimise them.”
ACS advised its members to continue to “sell whatever they would normally be selling”.
Supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and post offices are among the other essential retailers allowed to stay open during the lockdown.
The lockdown measures will be in place for an initial three weeks, after which they will be reviewed.
The deputy chief medical officer yesterday warned that life in the UK would not get back to normal within the next six months. However, coronavirus measures will likely be gradually eased off during that time frame.