Preston City Council have responded following claims of a lack of social distancing in Avenham Park over the weekend.

A Blog Preston reader, Lauren Melling was out in the Preston city centre park on Sunday (3 January) afternoon, when she was shocked to see, what she described as a group of 30- 40 people gathering by the cafe.

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Tier-4 coronavirus restrictions stated you should only meet one person from another household outdoors and maintain social distance.

Lauren also claimed none of the group were wearing masks while queuing for the cafe.

She told Blog Preston: “Why are we paying marshals if they fail to act?”

Lauren said that there were covid marshals nearby, ignoring the gathering – and ‘laughing and joking’ with those outside the cafe.

She has lodged an official complaint with the city council.

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Councillor Robert Boswell, Cabinet member for environment and community safety, told Blog Preston: “We’d like to thank everyone in Preston and visitors to our parks for continuing to adhere to the regulations on meeting outdoors and social distancing guidelines.

“While we appreciate that many people feel frustrated with tougher restrictions and want to gather with extended family and friends, none of us in Preston want to remain under tighter restrictions for longer than necessary.

“So we make this plea to the public to take some personal responsibility in this pandemic we are living through and ask people to do the right thing – for all of us.

“The Covid safety officers (marshals) are there to advise and support people where necessary and can be approached at any time.”

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Parks have remained open for exercise in tier-4 areas and cafes are allowed to serve food and drinks for takeaway-only.

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