Britons continued to flock outdoors today despite the ongoing lockdown measures – as a new poll revealed that 75 per of people fear a return to the office.
Lengthy queues of customers began lining up outside B&Q outlets this morning. The DIY chain last week said that all of its 288 stores are now open to the public.
People could also be seen outside Homebase stores as the business followed suit with its competitor and opened all of its 164 nationwide branches.
Police were seen patrolling in Crystal Palace park and warning people to abide by the lockdown restrictions after people were pictured sitting on the grass.
Other businesses such as Burger King, KFC and Nandos have also started opening select stores, with strict social distancing measures in place.
It comes as the Prime Minister is expected to reveal his roadmap of proposals to slowly lift the restriction in place since late March, but come down hard on any secondary hotspots that emerge.
The first easing of restrictions is not expected to come into force until June, and will be accompanied by the stricter enforcement of breaches of the remaining rules, with fines rising from the current £60 to more than £3,000 for repeat offenders.
Despite the large queues forming at stores all over the country, polling released today indicates that just one in four Britons would feel safe at work amid the coronavirus crisis and more than half are opposed to schools reopening, new polls have found.
Members of the public follow social distancing guidelines as they queue outside a B&Q warehouse in Loughborough as the UK continues in lockdown to help curb the spread of the coronavirus
People queue outside a B&Q store in Greenwich as the DIY giant opens all their stores ahead of an expected easing of the lockdown restrictions in the coming weeks
DIY enthusiasts queuing outside the B&Q in Greenwich this morning at a safe social distance
Two people sat on the grass in Crystal Palace today. Police were seen at the park warning people to abide by lockdown measures
Data published by Opinium found only 17 per cent of Britons believed conditions had been met to considering reopening schools on May 8, with 67 per cent of those polled believing the opposite.
There was also opposition to the reopening of restaurants and pubs – with only 11 per cent agreeing Britain is at a place to open eateries and 9 per cent supporting a return to pubs.
Britons more strongly opposed a return to Stadium events and nightclubs, with 7 per cent saying conditions have been met for both to resume, compared to 84 per cent who did not.
The data, collected between Wednesday and Friday last week, came as a YouGov poll found only one in four adults would feel safe returning to work amid the current state of coronavirus.
The second poll, carried out on behalf of The Sunday Times, also noted 48 per cent of Britons opposed the reopening of schools in the next few weeks, compared to 28 per cent who did not.
And 59 per cent of people polled by the Sunday Express said they would not feel comfortable going out and do not plan to resume a normal life next month.
Some 56 per cent of those polled approved of how the Government had handled the crisis.
Traffic data from TomTom showed a two per cent increase in the number of cars on the road yesterday, compared to the previous Saturday in London. But traffic levels today are at 10 per cent, the same level as last weekend.
This was reflected in the traffic data for the country, with the big cities showing a one per cent increase in the number of cars on the road compared to last Saturday, according to Tom Tom.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps warned that Britain will not return to ‘business as usual’ this month.
He told Sky’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday: ‘I don’t think we should expect us to go from this situation that we have at the moment of social distancing back to where we were in February – that’s clearly not going to happen and I don’t think anyone imagines that for one moment.’
Ministers are concerned that the public have gone beyond the letter of the law introduced when the pandemic began to sweep the nation, according to the Sunday Times.
A senior Whitehall source told the paper: ‘What you are going to see this week is a restatement of what we thought would happen right at the beginning when we first issued the lockdown.
‘But it’s going to be repackaged as a slow opening up of the economy. Please will construction sites reopen, please will you go to work if you can without hurting people, please if you are a key worker will you send your children to school.
‘We’ve gone round the houses to get back to where we started.’
Police were pictured patrolling Crystal Palace park today and speaking to members of the public, reminding them of the lockdown rules
The police pictured patrolling Crystal Palace Park and speaking to members of the public reminding them of the coronavirus lockdown rules
The latest traffic data from TomTom showed a dramatic fall in traffic since the lockdown started in late March
Despite the warm weather this weekend, Britons should prepare for a wet summer ahead.
April was one of the top five hottest on record – but the five hottest Aprils were all followed by wetter-than-normal summers, with some also cooler-then-usual.
Met Office computers in March said a warmer-than-average summer was a 60 to 80 per cent probability – but now say it is just a 20 to 60 per cent chance.
Bookmakers Coral cut odds on summer being wetter than normal from 6/4 to 1/2. Coral spokesman John Hill said: “It looks like brollies, not sunblock. We could be set for a washout summer.”
“Alarm bells” are ringing as bad summers follow hot springs in “weather’s way of evening things out,” The Weather Outlook forecaster Brian Gaze said.
Cool temperatures are due at times in May, the Met Office said. No prolonged heat is due this month, ex-BBC and Met Office forecaster John Hammond of weathertrending said.