Visiting family

Travel passes could be issued to allow travel to visit family in other parts of the UK. I have a severely disabled father living 500 miles away. He is 80 soon and I would like to be able to visit for his birthday without breaking the law as it stands.

Why the contribution is important

Family contact is important especially when someone is nearing the end of their life.

by Luskentyre2020 on May 05, 2020 at 01:04PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.5
Based on: 35 votes

Comments

  • Posted by ElaineKeay May 05, 2020 at 13:11

    Visiting family while keeping social distancing

  • Posted by Garstard May 05, 2020 at 13:11

    Very difficult to envisage how a 1000 mile round trip could be undertaken without interacting with others outside of the households.

  • Posted by Switchqueen May 05, 2020 at 13:13

    My own husband is 500 miles away and I haven’t seen him for 2 months. That said, if he was to come home I’d expect him to isolate from my mother for 7/14 days and only come if he was planning to stay.
    End of life is obviously different, but if we can’t visit elderly relatives who live locally, travelling to do so seems problematic.

  • Posted by GraceC May 05, 2020 at 13:14

    I suppose in theory ok. But what do you do with yourself within those 500 miles. Who else do you make contact with? You ultimately mix with your fathers carers and they mix with. ..

  • Posted by MiniMum65 May 05, 2020 at 13:15

    Apart from our household of four we have no family in the local area. We would need to be able to drive 50-60 miles to visit my brother, his partner and my parents. This is what I am missing the most at the moment. So, I’d be relieved and very pleased to see some sort of extended family bubble, but obviously within the local area doesn’t work for us.

  • Posted by Mumandnan May 05, 2020 at 13:16

    People need some contact now with other family members, so long as none of them are infected.

  • Posted by Hgbrooking May 05, 2020 at 13:17

    If this was carried out with strict two metre distance and the travel was safe to do so, then I think it would be a good thing to consider.

  • Posted by U02aml7 May 05, 2020 at 13:18

    Allowing families to see each other will encourage people to obey other lockdown rules for longer, it will give everyone a much needed boost and lift the spirits and moral of the nation.

  • Posted by Fionadav May 05, 2020 at 13:19

    have assigned family members with who you can interact fully

  • Posted by Fioliz May 05, 2020 at 13:19

    I support this idea. My parents in their 80s live nearly 300 miles away. My dad has dementia and mum could do with some support from family and not just neighbours.

  • Posted by Mosmith May 05, 2020 at 13:20

    Not sure about a pass but there must be a way of including close family in consideration of the bubble concept, even if they are live at a distance. Many parents will have students just finishing courses who are unable to source jobs currently Or elderly parents and grandparents and it is unfair to differentiate between those who live locally and those who don’t. The relationship should be key ie parents or children, for example.

  • Posted by spacefossil May 05, 2020 at 13:22

    Visiting family members should be considered provided:

    - no use of public transport
    - within 2 hours car drive
    - prior contact to agree visit
    - covid19 symptom- free

    Family members would be expected to contact each other in advance and confirm the absence of symptoms.

  • Posted by Jane May 05, 2020 at 13:22

    This would make such a positive difference to people but I am not sure how it would be fairly and safely monitored without a huge bureaucracy- however if it can be done it should be done.

  • Posted by VCRAL May 05, 2020 at 13:27

    My closest family member lives 60 miles away. I have not seen anyone close to me since early March when I started home working. Being allowed to see parents/brothers/sisters would make such a difference to lock down. Face time etc is just not the same as seeing someone.

  • Posted by Carol2404 May 05, 2020 at 13:28

    There must be a way to allow a single family member who is now living alone 100 miles away from family and now working from 'home' - so completely isolated apart from video chats - to visit their family. This is so damaging to their mental health, an alternative might be to resign from work, hand in notice to landlord and come home!

  • Posted by Isra May 05, 2020 at 13:31

    I am pretty desperate to see my partner, who I haven't seen in two months. Half my life is 500 miles away and I would like to safely visit once a month or so. I would suggest car travel from my safe environment, stopping only for fuel at external pumps, and remaining in the safe environment of my partner's home, would provide minimal risk. I would then expect to isolate on my return home.

  • Posted by abrookes May 05, 2020 at 15:40

    I agree with this - of course it has some risk but less than shopping probably and has a big benefit to those involved

  • Posted by JoeOH May 05, 2020 at 19:06

    A number of people on this chat have mentioned being symptom free - that is no guarantee that you are not infected or carrying Covid. My wife and I recently moved to an area away from our kids and into an area where we know almost no-one. But that doesn’t mean that the rules shouldn’t apply to me - people are not being allowed to say goodbye to loved ones at funerals, why is this situation any different from that?

  • Posted by Douglasgjohnson May 05, 2020 at 19:52

    Visiting one's family within 100 miles is good for one's mental wellbeing and that if our grandchildren and their parents. It is the most important issue for me.

  • Posted by Lillian81 May 07, 2020 at 13:49

    I am a GP. My husband is an Engineer. We have been trying to work full time and look after our three young children. We have been trying to educate our oldest. (6) We have had zero help with childcare. Nursery shut and School didn’t have capacity for my daughter. There are so many opinions I have about everything at the moment for both a personal and a professional perspective. I am feeling very badly let down by both the UK and Scottish Governments and also by the NHS. People need to start being able to see siblings and parents and children (regardless of geographical proximity) Absolutely keep social distancing in public places. But let people visit friends and relatives if you keep shut public attractions, accommodation social venues then you are still limiting contacts but increasing them enough to see how much difference it makes to rate of transmission (which you will only know if you have adequate TTT and surveillance testing)

  • Posted by Wilsmce May 07, 2020 at 15:50

    Travelling the length of the country is not on (and I DO have family hundreds of miles away)

  • Posted by BrendaRae May 07, 2020 at 16:40

    Common sense has to be used and individual situations have to be taken in to account. I don't think anyone is saying we should be able to travel all over the country but we have had to step in when an elderly relative took ill ( not related to the virus) and because of the current circumstance the doctor did not want to admit them to hospital.
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