Oi! Northerners! Stay away!

Devon holiday home provider refuses Barnsley booking

A holiday let owner in Devon has warned others to beware of bookings from people in areas facing the toughest coronavirus measures.

They posted a message on Facebook reporting an inquiry from a visitor who lives in Barnsley in South Yorkshire.

It is one of the areas about to go into the tier three category at the weekend under the new coronavirus alert system.

The accommodation owner received a call in response to a listing on the Airbnb website for a double room in Torbay. The caller wanted to book a weekend stay from Friday night. When the owner asked where the caller was from and was told Barnsley, the booking was refused.

The caller then protested that the alert status did not start until after midnight on Friday night, so it should be accepted. But the owner stood by her decision, posted a warning on a Facebook page, and contacted the Local Democracy Reporting Service, run by the BBC and in which Radio Exe is a partner, to highlight the issue.

The 'very high' alert rules which will apply in South Yorkshire include residents being told to avoid staying overnight in another part of the UK.

Torbay, along with the rest of Devon and the South West region, is in the tier one 'medium risk' category.

The seven-day infection rate for covid-19 in Barnsley was reported on Tuesday as 335 per 100,000 population and rising. In the Exeter University and Pennsylvania areas on 10 October it was 322 cases per 100,000, but that has since dropped to 88.

The local council in Barnsley said around 875 people were being infected in the town every week, with around a quarter of them aged 60 and over.

Barnsley is one of several areas of South Yorkshire due to go into very high alert status from Saturday, along with Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield. Other areas of the country including Liverpool, Manchester and Lancashire are already in the highest category.

In Torbay, the seven-day average on October 17 was 76 cases per 100,000, just below the regional average and less than half the England rate of 169.

People in High alert areas including London, parts of the Midlands and the North East, are still allowed to travel, and an influx of visitors to Devon is expected during half-term next week.

Some comments on the post on the Spotted Torquay Facebook page praised the decision to to refuse the booking.  One said: “They should not be allowed to bring a killer virus to Torbay.”

Others warned that it was inevitable that people from higher risk areas would be visiting Devon.  One pointed out people needed the money from holiday lets and another said visitors should be encouraged to protect the economy. One commenter pointed out it was difficult for businesses to filter bookings if people did not say where they were from.

Torbay’s director of public health Caroline Dimond has said there are concerns about visitors from areas with a higher rate of infection, but so far Torbay has not seen a major problem from imported cases. She said it was important visitors followed the hygiene measures in place.

Dr Dimond told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on Friday: “We would very much encourage people to make sure they were following all the guidance and remember even if they do come to Torbay we still have cases.