York council apologises after posting wrong Covid travel rules

City of York Council posted coronavirus travel guidance this morning – that was nine days out of date.

The council has apologised and deleted the Facebook post, which said people could travel between tiers to meet their Christmas bubble ‘between 23-27 December’.

In the post, the council wrote: “Between 23 and 27 December, you may travel between tiers and other nations of the UK if necessary to meet with your Christmas bubble.

“Anyone travelling to or from Northern Ireland may travel on 22 and 28 December.”

It then gave a link to a page on the UK government website.

This was the original plan – but on 19 December Boris Johnson dramatically scaled things back in response to a new, faster-transmitting strain of Covid-19.

This saw large swathes of southern England placed into a new stricter Tier 4 lockdown. And in Tiers 1-3 – including Tier 2 York – people could mix with a Christmas bubble on 25 December only.

‘Isn’t this out of date?’

The council posted the message at 9am this morning (Sunday, 27 December).

Residents were quick to point out that it was wrong, with nearly 40 comments either pointing out the mistake, or confused by the message.

“Well it’s the 27th so York city council have just given the go-ahead to travel into other tiers and meet up with people today?” wrote one.

“No wonder people are confused when incorrect information is put out there.”

Another wrote: “Isn’t this out of date? I thought this was changed a week ago to say you can only meet with your Christmas bubble on 25th December.”

And a third resident wrote: “This is wrong… it’s out of date. You need to remove this post.

Over an hour after the post was published the council realised its mistake. An officer wrote: “Many apologies to you all.

“This post slipped through the net and is, as you note, wrong. I will delete it now.”

Under current Tier 2 rules, you can only meet socially with friends and family indoors who you either:

You can see friends and family you do not live with (or do not have a support bubble with) outdoors, in a group of no more than six.

The government guidance states: “You should stay local and avoid travelling outside of your local area, meaning your village or town, or part of a city, where possible.

“People should continue to travel for reasons such as work, education, getting medical attention or fulfilling caring responsibilities.”