Grant Shapps insisted people should avoid using public transport now Boris Johnson has begun to relax some of the restrictions the coronavirus pandemic caused. Mr Shapps said new measures and guidelines have been made available to the public and urged them to follow the guidance through this “life and death situation.” Speaking to the Today programme, the Transport Secretary said: “We’ve issued some further advice and guidance, which is available on Gov.uk and I encourage people…perhaps the first thing people think of doing when they hear a Government’s minister speaking is rushing to download advice.

“But this is a life and death situation and I do encourage people to look at guidance for travelling on public transport.

“If you absolutely need to travel, wearing a face-covering – which is something you make at home rather than taking away PPE stock from medical situations – may be helpful and we ask people to do that.

“Not facing people, being side by side or back to back is better.”

Mr Shapps continued: “There will be fleeting moments when people are obviously within that two metres but we ask for the public’s cooperation.

JUST IN: UK hit by worst-ever monthly fall in GDP: Country on brink of recession with ‘more coming’

“This is not just the case of, ‘why don’t you just run all the services and it will all be ok.’

“We would have to run seven times the normal level of services to make it ok and the network can’t actually fit that number of trains and buses in.”

Mr Shapps agreed to have train services cut down to a minimum at the start of the lockdown to allow only essential workers to have access to the transport system.

But with some workers now heading back to work, the Government has been facing the risk of public transport becoming once again a potential mean of transmission for the coronavirus if safety measures are not followed. 

READ MORE: Tui Group to axe 8,000 jobs worldwide after facing ‘greatest crisis industry has faced’

Source: Read Full Article