Coronavirus: 'Lockdown rule-breakers are visiting Peebles'

By law, people must stay at home (except for essential purposes) so coronavirus infections can be driven down.

But Paul Spence, of Peebles' COVID-19 Mutual Support Group, is one of two people to have contacted us to report that rule-breakers have been visiting Peebles from other council areas.

“It’s been every weekend since the new year,” said Mr Spence, an IT manager and chairman of Peebles’ Beltane Festival.

In a letter to this newspaper, Mr Spence reveals that he recently spotted “around a dozen” motorcyclists parked at the Marks and Spencer’s garage on Innerleithen Road.

Although two police officers were at the scene, the officers appeared to do nothing, Mr Spence says.

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In his letter, he also writes that Glentress has been “saturated” with cyclists recently, adding: “You only have to sit a short while in Eddleston to see the cars with multiple bikes at the rear or on the roof heading down into Peebles or Innerleithen.”

Mr Spence says a fellow member of the COVID-19 Mutual Support Group contacted the local MSP recently to raise concerns about visitors, but the message “produced little response”.

Tweeddale MSP Christine Grahame, of the SNP, told this newspaper: “I absolutely share residents’ frustration at the minority of people who are still flouting the rules.

“I have indeed raised this issue of persistent rule breakers in parliament on a number of occasions.

“Despite what it can sometimes appear, the majority of people are following the rules.

“It’s impossible to police every single interaction and journey so we do have to rely on people largely following the rules, which has been encouraged through regular public information campaigns and the First Minister’s regular briefings.

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“It’s a persistent, selfish minority of people who simply refuse and do not seem to care of the consequences.

“I have spoken regularly with local police throughout the pandemic and they will take enforcement action where breaches are clear.

“They can however only police what they’re made aware of – I’d therefore encourage anyone concerned to report breaches when they’re occurring either by phoning 101 or by using the dedicated online reporting form.

“Apart from allowing enforcement action this also ensures the police can track any areas where there may be a particular concentration of incidents and deploy resources appropriately.

“To end on a note of optimism, whilst progress can never be taken for granted, we are progressing well with the vaccination programme and for the first time an end is in sight.

“Caution is needed to prevent us going backwards but we are overall moving in a positive direction with this awful pandemic.”

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One woman, who requested anonymity, told us that she recently spotted visitors from “how they were dressed” and the way they were “wandering around”.

“I don’t normally complain but I’m so annoyed,” she said. “My family have stuck to our bubble for a year.”

The woman, who has lived in Peebles for 15 years, said one of her concerns was that as the area “comes into nicer weather” she doesn’t think people will “abide by the rules”.

She added: “It will get worse around Easter.”

This newspaper put both residents’ concerns to Police Scotland.

Mr Spence's full letter (sent on Wednesday, March 3)

I believe some people have raised concerns about the lack of movement control during COVID.

Particularly with the nice weather.

The concern is that with Easter coming up, Peeblesshire will once again become a hotbed of activity with visitors.

Whilst in normal times these visitors are more than welcome, we want to keep Peeblesshire safe and ask them to stay away.

At the weekend there were a number of motorcyclists, around a dozen, parked at Innerleithen Road garage.

There were also six parked together in the Eastgate.

Just to make this even more frustrating was that another two bikes parked at the garage were police motorbikes.

Whilst I was only passing I did not see any communication taking place between the police and the other bikers

The entrance to Haystoun is again becoming a top spot for walkers.

Clearly not local as on a recent walk past there was an Edinburgh parking permit on the rear of the car. This is a weekly occurrence.

Glentress is becoming saturated with bikers from outwith the area.

You only have to sit a short while in Eddleston to see the cars with multiple bikes at the rear or on the roof heading down into Peebles or Innerleithen.

The rules clearly state you should not cross local authority boundaries.

And I don’t think for a minute these are all residents that live between Leadburn and Eddleston.

Only last week whilst walking at Soonhope were we passed by two groups of bikers – both groups of four, all adults – so not families, and one group were all the same sex.

This is clearly breaking the two-person rule.

Contacting the local MSP as one of the COVID-19 Group members have done has produced little response.

The town has suffered like everyone else since March 2020 and with the vaccine rollout taking place that light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

However, this complacency and lack of deterrent is going to keep that light diminished until more responsibility and accountability is taken. The local police are extremely low on resources and may not be able to manage the demands of monitoring COVID-breaching activity.

For the safety of us all and so that we can eventually get back to normal or back to a new normal we need more enforcement of the rules and if that means tougher policing then we need the resources to do so.

The current policy of a ‘softly, softly’ approach is clearly not working.