A hospitality business has been fined £1,000 for not displaying a coronavirus QR code which people have to scan to check into the NHS Test and Trace app.
Two further Health and Safety Notices have been served by Gloucestershire County Council for businesses not having adequate ‘Covid-secure’ measures in place.
The firm which was handed the £1,000 fixed-penalty notice has not been named.
The council, through the Government’s Test and Trace grant, has funded six new Compliance Officers — dubbed Covid marshals — who are tasked with enforcing coronavirus restrictions across the county including face coverings, the Rule of Six and social distancing.
Since the start of September, local environmental health officers ‘have worked closely with more than 550 businesses in Gloucestershire to make sure they have the support they need to manage the risks linked to Covid-19’.
Cllr Mark Hawthorne, the council leader, said: ‘It’s a difficult time for us all and, in particular for our county businesses, who are all working hard to implement the crucial prevention measures — but it is important that we stick with it.
Cllr Mark Hawthorne’s Gloucestershire County Council slapped the firm with the £1,000 fixed-penalty notice after snooping Covid marshals found the code had not been displayed
A Gloucestershire business has been fined £1,000 for not displaying a coronavirus QR code which people have to scan to check into the NHS Test and Trace app (pictured, Christopher Hammond, boss of Sukhothai Thai restaurant in Leeds, scans a QR code)
A Gloucestershire business has been fined £1,000 for not displaying a coronavirus QR code which people have to scan to check into the NHS Test and Trace app (pictured, a man scanning the QR code to enter the Arcadia Ale House pub in Leeds)
‘Our environmental health officers are there to help businesses, to provide advice and guidance, but also to enforce the guidance, where there is no other choice.
‘I want to thank our district enforcement teams for the work they are already doing to help slow the spread of the virus — and our local business community — keep it up.’
About £300,000 of the £2.2million Government grant has been used to fund the Covid marshals, one located within each district, to ‘provide additional support to the local enforcement teams and ensure Covid compliance across the county’.
Covid marshals armed with body cameras will film evidence of breaches of coronavirus restrictions at weddings, parties, pubs and restaurants under new Government guidelines.
Boris Johnson’s derided marshals, dubbed ‘Covid Wombles’, will be expected to call police or council inspectors to enforce any breaches at premises they visit.
They will be given a checklist of coronavirus measures to ensure compliance in hospitality venues including pubs, bars, restaurants, takeaways and shops, as well as tourist attractions, ‘close contact services’ including hairdressers and nail bars, and ‘wedding receptions and celebrations’.
The guidance, published by Robert Jenrick’s Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government, suggests the marshals should receive security training and could operate a yellow card system — where they issue two warnings before businesses face fines or closure.
A snooper army of Covid marshals armed with body cameras will film evidence of breaches of coronavirus restrictions at weddings, parties, pubs and restaurants under new Government guidelines published this week (pictured, a marshal in Cornwall)
Boris Johnson’s derided marshals, dubbed ‘Covid Wombles’, will be expected to call police or council inspectors to enforce any breaches at premises they visit
In a move suggesting that there will be confrontations with unhappy members of the public, the guidance also suggests the marshals should be trained in ‘deescalation techniques’.
They will encourage social distancing and order members of the public to wear face masks. However, the guidance states their role is ‘not to enforce Covid-19 regulations’, but to ‘engage, explain and encourage best practice and national Covid-19-secure guidance’.
The Covid marshals, who were called ‘busybodies’ by lockdown sceptics when the Government announced the new position, will be expected to prevent mingling between groups in pubs and clubs, and on the streets after the 10pm curfew.
The guidance also states there will be two grades of Covid marshals — Type 2 marshals, which will have a ‘policing’-style role, and Type 1 marshals responsible for the more mundane tasks of directing pedestrians through one-way systems and handing out face coverings.
The Government has given councils £30million to recruit and train the Covid marshals, who should be issued with PPE, high-vis jackets and radio systems, the guidance adds.