This petition was submitted during the 2019-2024 parliament
Rejected petition Do not limit number of hours people can be out during coronavirus outbreak.
Do not limit the number of hours people can be out for local walks or local bicycle rides during the corona virus outbreak, as well as do not limit actual immediate families car journeys hours or distances either.
More details
Currently the Government are trying to limit the hours that people should be out for local bicycle rides, walks, trips to shops and immediate family car journeys to just 1 hour at a time during the Corona Virus Outbreak. Boris Johnson and the Conservative Party have already closed down all leisure centres, pubs, and restaurants because of the Corona Virus (Covid19) outbreak. Please do not let them take ALL of our freedom away from us by letting us going out cycling and walking unlimited hours.
This petition was rejected
Why was this petition rejected?
It’s not clear what the petition is asking the UK Government or Parliament to do.
The Government has not placed limits on the amount of time people can be outside, or the distance they can travel by car. The The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 state that during the emergency period, no person may leave the place where they are living
without reasonable excuse, and states that a reasonable excuse includes taking exercise and obtaining basic necessities: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/350/pdfs/uksi_20200350_en.pdf
Interpreting what constitutes a reasonable excuse is a matter for the judiciary, not the Government or Parliament, but the NPCC and College of Policing have produced guidance on what is likely to be a reasonable excuse: https://www.college.police.uk/What-we-do/COVID-19/Documents/What-constitutes-a-reasonable-excuse.pdf
You can find out more about coronavirus and how you can protect yourself and others here:
www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/
The Government has also created an online service to help you out what you can do if you’re struggling because of coronavirus: https://www.gov.uk/find-coronavirus-support
You can read NHS tips to help if you are worried about coronavirus here: https://www.nhs.uk/oneyou/every-mind-matters/coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety-tips
You can read impartial analysis of the Government response to coronavirus and policy developments here: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/coronavirus/
You may also be interested to know that because of the large number of petitions that have been started in relation to coronavirus, the Petitions Committee has been questioning the Government about its response to the coronavirus outbreak.
Find out more and watch the Committee put questions suggested by petitioners to Government Ministers and the Deputy Chief Medical Officer: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/news/145767/committee-question-deputy-chief-medical-officer-and-ministers-on-coronavirus-response/
Read letters asking further questions of Government Ministers: https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/publications/3/correspondence/
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.