Neighbour breaking lockdown

Another vote for M0nica's view here! Your neighbours are being unwise and you disapprove. Fine, but that is not a reason to involve the Police. They are a threat to each other, but it's hard to see how they are a threat to you or to other people. It is very worrying that people think the Law should back them up when they don't like the behaviour of others. I was in the Police Force in my 20s (many decades ago). We had phone calls all the time about behaviour of neighbours that amounted to no more than disapproval of behaviour e.g. "She's putting her dinner scraps on the compost heap and it will attract rats". "She's keeping the bairn off school again." "He's got 2 women in there with him." Honestly, E. Germany and the Stasi comes to mind!

I have the same problem - perhaps it is more widespread than we think! Next door couple's one year old had birthday party last weekend, attended by 4 other couples with young children, banner in front window, and woman's parents came with pressies; parents visit frequemtly, hear them chatting and playing with child in garden, man goes on frequent bike rides with friend, who comes back for drinks. She is a nurse doing shifts in the week at local hospital! Gastro-intestinal ward, though, not front-line, he tells us!

Bluenose10
I would suggest you do nothing as you don’t know why the neighbour is getting visitors.
I and my husband are in the age and vulnerable category,
and are not allowed out Doctors orders.
Yet we still need to eat and keep us and house clean.
So yes our DD comes to our house with our Shopping,
without her we would be very hungry can’t get a slot for delivery even having stayed up till 12 but all gone.
Our daughter works for NHS so can only shop at the end of her shift when it’s difficult to get what we and she needs so sometimes she has to do more than one shop.
She also has to shop for her own family but isn’t allowed to do ours at the same time.

There is a scenario that nobody seems to have considered. My daughter, son-in-law, granddaughter and I have all had COVID-19. We are as certain of this as it is possible to be without antibody testing especially as my son-in-law had it severely albeit not requiring hospital admission. Although I am in a separate household from them and live alone I am continuing to provide childcare as they are WFH. I drive from my house to theirs but do not leave their house during the course of the day. In doing this nobody is being put at any risk and I would suggest that others who appear to be breaking the rules may well have valid reasons that do not compromise the spirit of lockdown.

I'd step away from twitching the curtains and leave them to it.

Just let others do what they want. Why get involved and make misery for others. Life is bad enough - so just ignore them and if they catch it then that is up to them. Stay away from them and stay safe.

Maybe a bit dramatic but here goes.It WW2 .Night time.Everyone dutifully closes their blackout curtains as per instructions.After all we're all in it together.Except one house who thinks bah.Im not closing my curtains.Bang.A bomb takes out their house but also the ones nearby and seriously damages others.Ok that's dramatic.And I'm not talking about family dropping off stuff and chatting from the end of the drive.I'm talking about a household I know,fortunately not an immediate neighbour, who since lockdown has had family and friends visit and even help landscape the garden,sharing trays of tea and biscuits.My friend has been put in a terrible position as they are / were friends.Hasn't reported .Hates the idea of being a snitch.Doesn't have to be nosey to know what's going on as out in the garden anyway as lovely weather.But it's made her lockdown more stressful.Like me she's adopting the there's no cure for stupid attitude and telling herself she can only control her own behaviour.But it is very frustrating and that's why we need a rant here more than ever !

I totally understand your rage at them flouting the rules of which they are all no doubt fully aware of unless they live under a rock in the middle of nowhere!! It’s repeated so much. They simply don’t care. So what’s £60 fine going to do? Yesterday my neighbour (2M+ apart) told me of the funeral yesterday of an old lady who died of CV19. Never went out. But did have the family around for Mother’s Day.
Yet personally I’d Still not report them. At the start of WWII who would have believed that ordinary German citizens could have been convinced to turn on their longtime friends and neighbours but they did. They reported them in their droves as the patriotic thing to do. Look how far patriotism went! We have so many tails of vigilantes reporting others unnecessarily. We don’t know people’s circumstances. If you are that irate then ask your neighbours directly. If she doesn’t care as too selfish then why worry about a friendship?

I should have added that the visitors live close by and do not use the bathroom when they come. I haven't done this as family do not live close enough and the children of hose that do are too u=young to understand he keeping the distance rule. On my walks I have stopped to speak to friends - again keeping a safe distance away. Maybe your neighbours are doing something similar.

I would be cross to see blatant disregard of what we are all doing for all the reasons told time and again. There will always be people who flout the rules and go to the beach and fly tip and worse - but reporting this to the police scares the hell out of me that we could be like those nations with a police state and friends report friends. Stasi type way of life we definitely don’t want do we!??
Stay well everyone and keep up the distancing til it’s second nature xx

Are we becoming like Nazi Germany, snitching on a neighbour who may be sheltering a Jewish person?
I am shielded so can't go anywhere or see anyone for at least twelve weeks but I'm grateful for family who drop my shopping on the doorstep, ring the bell and wave and then go.
I'm equally grateful to the neighbour who collects my newspaper every day and I'm grateful for modern technology that allows me to video call family and friends.
I do notice the teenagers strolling along in groups and neighbours who have visitors but I'm not going to report any if them. I do think they should consider our overstretched NHS though, even if they don't think of the danger to themselves.

I know a few widows who have had friends/ family visit. The visitors have brought their own snacks/dinks and they have sat in the garden at least 2M apart. Not a risk to anyone. None of my business.

Bluenose10 - What your neighbour is doing is wrong on every single level, and for the following reasons, I would report her:
1. She is being anti-social in ignoring the public health guidelines and government instruction. Those who behave anti-socially damage society. I don't believe that such people have the right to expect society's protection and take up a hospital bed should it be necessary.
2. If the visiting isolating family has access purely to your neighbour's house then yes, there is little risk to you but if those visitors have access to the garden then there IS a risk to you. The science shows that Covid19 aerosol droplets remain airborne for longer and travel further than originally believed. So an infected person who coughs or sneezes in your neighbour's garden sends a droplet cloud into the air that can travel over your fence and you don't even have to be there at that moment to be infected because the cloud will remain for minutes, so you might walk into it, or the droplets may land on your lawn mower. You are potentially being endangered.
3. You don't know that the visitors are self-isolating families, you don't know they're not visiting other members of their family or friends. If they are so cavalier as to make a visit to socialise and not just drop off provisions at the door, they are likely to be repeating that behaviour elsewhere. Our government failed to undertake contact tracing at the start of this problem and that's why we now have an epidemic in the UK.
Unfortunately, being in isolation and not watching the regular news and trying to keep all the nasty statistics out of mind, causes us all to become complacent, to forget that our hospitals have become warzones, and that our frontline workers are sacrificing their own lives for us. The least we can do is support them by yes - 'snitching' or whatever else people want to call it. We are in an existential crisis here, before long everybody will be asked to wear masks outside in contrast to the early advice. Personally, I would step up to the plate and not be afraid to do what we know instinctively is right here. It wouldn't matter that my neighbour would never be a 'friend' again because I don't want 'friends' who think they are above the agreed rules of society.

If you can report anonymously then I would do so. The NHS don't need people to behave like this. We have all been specifically asked NOT to.

People say it doesn't affect you or anyone else but it does. The longer these people flout the rules, the longer we'll all be in lockdown.

I've mentioned before, my son is a police call handler. They are inundated with calls about neighbours. It's making his job very difficult. Dont forget real crime is still happening, suicides, domestic abuse. Either speak to your neighbour or ignore it.

I would like to add to my response that my stepson is a doctor working in ICU, my best friend a nurse, who herself is currently recoving from the virus, but I will continue to look after my grandchildren so that their parents can do their front line jobs. I wouldn't report on neighbours as can you guarantee you know 100% of the circumstances

Missiseff thank goodness for a sensible, informed post. Who are all these Mumsnet ‘experts’ confidently asserting that it doesn’t matter, it’s not affecting you, mind your own business. The neighbour is seriously risking spreading the virus. That’s why we’re isolating. If they were dealing drugs would you be saying ignore it. Concerns can be put anonymously. The police will look at it.

Could you try and speak to her first...at a safe distance obviously? They may only be a couple of families, but how many are going out shopping/ exercising etc. I would suggest they may be there because of health reasons, but from what you say, it sounds like socialising. Give her the chance to stop it herself. She may not realise what she’s doing. On the news last night, it was said that there is still confusion. Let her know you’re not happy, and it’s not fair. I know you risk causing acrimony, but which would you potentially rather loose, her friendship, or yours or someone else’s life?

I wouldn't report them because it could cause bad feeling. Of course they are affecting others though. As many sensibly have said the longer people carry on like this the longer the virus will be spread about and vulnerable people will die. Plus carers will be put at risk. Covidiots is the word for them and unfortunately they don't have the sense to understand the situation and are acting selfishly. We would all love to see our grandchildren but are staying apart for the good of our community. I too watch folk meeting up to walk dogs and wandering down to the shop everyday to get the newspaper. Why risk spreading this!!

My neighbour is a nurse and if they could see the state of her poor face where she been using her mask for 12 hrs + a day,it might make them think differently.
My daughter partner is a nurse and currently in hospital with this horrible COVID 19.
I wouldn’t snitch on them but if I saw them outside I’d definitely have strong words.

I care my DD is a doctor and every single day puts her life on the line for these ignorant people , if they are carrying Covid19 they will just spread it and the hospitals will just be overwhelmed,
I wouldn’t report them but hopefully one day they will wake up and see the harm they are doing

I would report them. My beautiful Dil has lost both grandparents this last week & is absolutely heartbroken. Why can't people just do as they as they are told!

I would NOT personally flout this but imagine this situation:

We have been in total lockdown starting before we were advised to do so. Our only visitor has been a nurse, twice, in a single-use hazmat suit and respirator as we have a person who is both young and very vulnerable living with us. We isolate/wash any shopping etc that enters the house and don't go out.

A relative nearby has also isolated and followed the same routine with deliveries. The car is safely on the drive.

What's the issue with us visiting?

IMHO it's about the fact that we're all supposed to be in it together, we all need to do our bit and not imply that some people have special exemptions.

You see your neighbour with family visiting, to me is bad enough, wonder though how many other people the family are visiting. If two people cross infect then go and meet others they then pass on the virus and on and on it goes. The lockdown is to prevent the need for medical/hospital treatment as all reasonable people understand. Every day we see in the media the police having to put themselves in danger to stop group from mixed households meeting up. Stay well clear of neighbour and if you are ever asked "over the fence" how you are doing just tell her quite blatantly how you are missing your family but you and they wouldn't want to put anyone at risk or break the current virus laws. You never know someone else may also be taking note of what is going on.