Extra police officers are being deployed at railway stations to stop people from making non-essential Tier 4 journeys after passengers crowded onto trains in London to escape the tightening of COVID-19 restrictions.
People were seen leaving the capital yesterday in vast numbers following the announcement of new Tier 4 measures.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced on Sunday that British Transport Police would have an increased presence following Saturday night's chaotic scenes.
He said: "Extra BTP officers are being deployed to ensure only those who need to take essential journeys can travel safely."
Mr Shapps added: "If you are in Tier 4, the law means you must stay at home and you cannot stay overnight away from home. Across the rest of the country, you must stay local."
The Christmas transport tsar, Sir Peter Hendry, said: "At stations we will be deploying extra staff, announcements will make the law clear, and additional BTP officers are in place to ensure that only essential journeys take place.
"People considering driving should also stay at home or stay local."
Mr Hancock earlier let out a deep sigh and shook his head when asked about the footage of a very busy St Pancras station by Sky's Sophy Ridge.
He said: "This was clearly totally irresponsible behaviour, the chief medical officer [Professor Chris Whitty] was absolutely clear that people should unpack their bags if they had them packed.
"I think that it's relatively small numbers, and the vast majority of people throughout this whole pandemic have followed the rules, been responsible and played their part and I want to thank everybody for doing that."
Asked on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show on Sunday if the police could stop families from driving out of Tier 4 areas to visit relatives, Mr Hancock said the police would uphold the new laws.
Fears over a new strain of coronavirus prompted the prime minister to announce yesterday that all of those areas previously in Tier 3 in the South East - including London - would move to the new Tier 4 today.
This means the closure of non-essential shops, gyms and hairdressers, with people ordered to stay home apart from limited exceptions.
It also bans mixing of households over Christmas - which saw many people make the last-minute dash to slightly lighter rules in other parts of England.
The tougher restrictions were announced by the prime minister on Saturday at a 4pm news conference ahead of them coming into force today.
By 7pm last night, there were no seats available online on trains from several London stations including Paddington, Kings Cross and Euston.
Harriet Clugston was among those on a train from St Pancras to Leeds, a service she described as "crammed".
She wrote on Twitter: "Announcement on tannoy says social distancing 'will not be possible' due to volume and to get off if you are not comfortable with that.
"People have tried to secure social distance by placing (suitcases) on seats but being asked to remove them by other passengers as the train is so full."
She added: "Every person on this train including myself has made what is probably a very silly and irresponsible decision to travel albeit within the law. But that's what people were always going to do to be together at Christmas.
"My mother lives alone and there's no way I could not be with her at Christmas."
A woman, who did not wish to be named, said she and her partner had made a "split decision" to take their young son to her parents' home on the coast.
"We just made the decision to leave based on the fact that my parents said come, and we couldn't bear the thought of no fresh air and a toddler going rogue round a small flat for the foreseeable," she said.
"We also really just felt we wanted to get the baby somewhere a bit safer with a garden, though we know a lot of people won't have that luxury.
She added: "The grandparents are just desperately happy they'll see their grandson.
"We obviously worry about taking something down to them, but they seem happy to take the risk."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMicmh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2NvdmlkLTE5LWV4dHJhLXRyYW5zcG9ydC1wb2xpY2UtZGVwbG95ZWQtYWZ0ZXItbG9uZG9uZXJzLXJhY2UtdG8tbGVhdmUtY2FwaXRhbC0xMjE2ODA0NdIBdmh0dHBzOi8vbmV3cy5za3kuY29tL3N0b3J5L2FtcC9jb3ZpZC0xOS1leHRyYS10cmFuc3BvcnQtcG9saWNlLWRlcGxveWVkLWFmdGVyLWxvbmRvbmVycy1yYWNlLXRvLWxlYXZlLWNhcGl0YWwtMTIxNjgwNDU?oc=5
2020-12-20 12:33:45Z
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