Bolton to Scotland

epm-84

According to The Guardian it's not illegal for people from Bolton to travel to Scotland.  That's good if you want to go but bad if you want to cancel/postpone as the supplier are less likely to have to agree to postponing/cancelling your trip penalty free.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/21/scotland-to-ban-travel-to-and-from-english-covid-hotspots-from-monday

Perhaps the sensible thing is to get a free lateral flow test the week before you are due to go, then if it returns a positive result you can get a PCR test to confirm. If it's negative then the chance of you transporting the virus around is low. If a PCR test returns positive then if you have travel insurance that should cover you as you have confirmation that you or someone in your party is unwell so can't travel.  Of course, that presumes the UK government doesn't put Bolton under a local lockdown before then.

elsien

If you look at the Scottish health protection regulations themselves as opposed to a newspaper article, they state that:

Offences and penalties

8.—(1) A person who contravenes a requirement in regulation 3 to 7 commits an offence.

(2) A person who obstructs any person carrying out a function under these Regulations commits an offence.

(3) A person who contravenes a direction given under regulation 7, or fails to comply with a reasonable instruction or a prohibition notice given by a relevant person under regulation 7, commits an offence.

(4) It is a defence to a charge of committing an offence under paragraph (1), (2) or (3) to show that the person, in the circumstances, had a reasonable excuse.

(5) In paragraph (4), a reasonable excuse includes the need—

(a)to obtain basic necessities, including food and medical supplies for those in the same household (including any pets or animals in the household) or for a vulnerable person and supplies for the essential upkeep, maintenance and functioning of the household or the household of a vulnerable person, or to obtain money,

(b)to take exercise, either alone or with other members of their household,

(c)to seek medical assistance, including to access any of the services referred to in paragraph 37 or 38 of schedule 1,

(d)to provide care or assistance to a vulnerable person, including to provide emergency assistance,

(e)to donate blood,

(f)to travel for the purposes of work or to provide voluntary or charitable services, where it is not reasonably possible for that person to work, or to provide those services, from the place where they are living,

(g)to attend a funeral of—

(i)a member of the person’s household,

(ii)a close family member, or

(iii)if no-one within sub-paragraphs (i) or (ii) are attending, a friend,

(h)to fulfil a legal obligation, including attending court or satisfying bail conditions, or to participate in legal proceedings,

(i)to access critical public services, including—

(i)childcare or educational facilities (where these are still available to the child in relation to whom that person is the parent of, or has parental responsibility for or care of, the child),

(ii)social services,

(iii)services provided by the Department of Work and Pensions,

(iv)services provided to victims (such as victims of crime),

(j)in relation to children who do not live in the same household as their parents, or one of their parents, to continue existing arrangements for access to, and contact between, parents and children, and for the purposes of this paragraph, “parent” includes a person who is not a parent of the child, but who has parental responsibility for, or who has care of, the child,

(k)in the case of a minister of religion or worship leader, to go to their place of worship,

(l)to move house where reasonably necessary,

(m)to avoid injury, illness or to escape a risk of harm.

Going on holiday does not fall into any of the exemptions so anyone who does choose to travel is liable to a fine. And probably being turned back if it's on the journey up. Is that a chance you would want to take? 

epm-84

elsien said:

Going on holiday does not fall into any of the exemptions so anyone who does choose to travel is liable to a fine. And probably being turned back if it's on the journey up. Is that a chance you would want to take? 

You've provided an extensive quote there but there's nothing you've quoted which proves that applies to people from the specific towns in England announced by Nicola Sturgeon the other day. Those rules would definitely apply to Glasgow but you haven't proved they apply to Bolton and even if they do, does Bolton mean the town of Bolton or the borough of Bolton?  Given Nicola said Blackburn (a town) not Blackburn with Darwen (a borough), it would imply the town only so someone living in the shadow of Bolton Wanderers ground (in the town of Horwich) wouldn't be included in the Bolton ban.

eskbanker

epm-84 said:

elsien said:

Going on holiday does not fall into any of the exemptions so anyone who does choose to travel is liable to a fine. And probably being turned back if it's on the journey up. Is that a chance you would want to take? 

You've provided an extensive quote there but there's nothing you've quoted which proves that applies to people from the specific towns in England announced by Nicola Sturgeon the other day. Those rules would definitely apply to Glasgow but you haven't proved they apply to Bolton and even if they do, does Bolton mean the town of Bolton or the borough of Bolton?  Given Nicola said Blackburn (a town) not Blackburn with Darwen (a borough), it would imply the town only so someone living in the shadow of Bolton Wanderers ground (in the town of Horwich) wouldn't be included in the Bolton ban.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance-on-travel-and-transport/

The current travel restrictions between Scotland (except any areas in Level 3 or Level 4) and the CTA are as follows:

• England – travel to and from Bedford, Blackburn with Darwen, and Bolton is only allowed for permitted reasons from Monday 24 May 2021, for example for work or education. There is a detailed list of examples of reasonable excuses in the regulations.  No travel restrictions elsewhere in England

mattyprice4004

mcooke999 said:

Caz3121 said:

mcooke999 said:

will I be entitled to a refund as we wouldn't be unable to access the service we'd paid for?

If the accommodation is open and available to you then you need to refer to the booking terms regarding refunds if you choose to cancel. Do you have travel insurance in place that would cover the situation?

The booking won't be available to us if the ban is still in place. Even though the venue will be open, it technically wouldn't be open to anyone from Bolton.

Plus we're not choosing to cancel.  We still want to go but won't be able to if the travel ban is still in place at the time. That's what I'm trying to ask about.

No travel insurance and the terms of the booking states free cancellation up to 30 days before which unfortunately was about 4 days before Nicola Sturgeon announced the ban .... But again, we're not cancelling.

You not being able to go because of your area is your problem, not the venue’s problem. 

If it’s open and taking guests but Government restrictions preclude you from going, it’s a job for travel insurance. Your credit card won’t refund either because the holiday is still there for you to take. 

silvercar

Given there given there is no a English law stopping travel from Bolton, you could leave your home and go and stay with friends, relatives, a cheap bnb or hotel for 10+ days before your holiday and still travel.
probably not a wise idea, given we are trying to reduce the spread of infection, but that combined with some isolation and/ or testing could salvage your holiday.

epm-84

Despite the quotes from Scottish legislation things aren't that clear:

• If someone from Wigan works in Bolton, are they allowed to travel to Scotland?
• If someone from Birmingham allowed to stop to use the toilet in the Bolton area when travelling up to Scotland?
• If someone from Manchester travels on a train which stops at Bolton on the way en-route to Scotland are they still allowed to enter Scotland?
• If someone from Bolton is currently based at a term time address in say York, could they find themselves getting a hotel reservation cancelled because they've given a Bolton address as the cardholder's address when reserving the room?

These kind of things were covered in UK legislation when those returning from France had to self-isolate but those returning from other countries in Europe via France didn't always. However, I'm not sure the Scottish government has properly thought this through if they are thinking of it as a legal requirement rather than a recommendation.

silvercar said:

Given there given there is no a English law stopping travel from Bolton, you could leave your home and go and stay with friends, relatives, a cheap bnb or hotel for 10+ days before your holiday and still travel.
probably not a wise idea, given we are trying to reduce the spread of infection, but that combined with some isolation and/ or testing could salvage your holiday.

There is now UK government advice (not law) that people from Bolton should avoid household mixing.

eskbanker

epm-84 said:

Despite the quotes from Scottish legislation things aren't that clear:

• If someone from Wigan works in Bolton, are they allowed to travel to Scotland?
• If someone from Birmingham allowed to stop to use the toilet in the Bolton area when travelling up to Scotland?
• If someone from Manchester travels on a train which stops at Bolton on the way en-route to Scotland are they still allowed to enter Scotland?
• If someone from Bolton is currently based at a term time address in say York, could they find themselves getting a hotel reservation cancelled because they've given a Bolton address as the cardholder's address when reserving the room?

These kind of things were covered in UK legislation when those returning from France had to self-isolate but those returning from other countries in Europe via France didn't always. However, I'm not sure the Scottish government has properly thought this through if they are thinking of it as a legal requirement rather than a recommendation.

Out of curiosity I went looking for the actual legislation, rather than the plain language stuff on the main website, and https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ssi/2020/344/schedule/7A seems to apply a residence test only (aside from all the hypotheticals, OP did say "We live in Bolton"):

Restrictions on entering Scotland

2.—(1) A person who lives in a place within the common travel area mentioned in paragraph 4 must not enter or remain in Scotland.

(2) But a person who does not live in Scotland may travel through Scotland in order to reach a place outwith Scotland.

[...]

Places in respect of which restrictions in this schedule apply

4.  The places are—

(a) the Republic of Ireland.

(b) in England, the areas of—

(i) Bedford Borough Council,

(ii) Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council,

(iii) Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council.

epm-84

The obvious flaw in that is someone who's been in their home in Bolton and only gone out for essential reasons in the past two weeks is banned, while someone who works in Bolton and has been mixing with people in Bolton daily as part of their job is exempt if they live outside the borough.

Butts

In all reality the key to this will be enforcement.
Considering the Scotland/England Travel Ban was not enforced to any great degree at the tail end of last year and earlier this year would lead me to believe the op would have nothing to worry about coming up here.
I myself crossed the Border many times using different methods of transport during the ban and was never questioned as to my reason for travel.