Gift shop owners would rather go to prison than close under lockdown
The defiant owners of a gift card shop claim they would rather go to prison than close during lockdown.
Alasdair and Lydia Walker-Cox were fined for breaking coronavirus rules after staying open despite non-essential shops being told to stay shut.
The couple instead say they sell essential items including newspapers, snacks and baking products.
Police and trading standards officers gave them a £1,000 fine after ordering them to close their Grace Cards and Books shop last week.
Visit our live blog for the latest updates Coronavirus news live
Alasdair, 54, said: ‘If we shut we won’t be able to pay suppliers, the rent, let alone support the family. If we open we can.
‘We believe lockdowns do not work against the virus and on principle we want to open and support our family and suppliers instead.’
The couple have seven children and have run the shop in Droitwich, Worcestershire, for 30 years.
Footage taken on Lydia’s mobile phone captured the moment officers warned them they were breaking lockdown rules.
But they say they are not going to close their shop in lockdown.
Lydia, 50, said: ‘We’re willing to go all the way, it’s the principle now and we have got legal help.
‘It’s not just for ourselves that we are staying open, we have had so much response from other people.
‘We’ve had tonnes of emails, phone calls from similar people in similar situations and businesses that are crumbling and businesses that are gone.
‘We are just standing up for ourselves and other small businesses because of the injustice of it.
‘This second lockdown should never have happened. I don’t think the trade-off is worth it on the economy of the country and businesses in general.
‘A month shutting everybody down just before Christmas is just nonsensical.’
Non-essential shops were among places in England told to close for four weeks on November 5, to help slow the spread of coronavirus.
Businesses can be fined by local authorities and the police if they fail to close, with penalties starting from £1,000 for a first-time offence to £10,000 for the fourth and any subsequent offences.
Lydia claimed the cost of closing is the same as remaining open, ‘so we’re damned either way’.
‘We don’t know what’s going to happen after Christmas,’ she added.
‘Government are being very condescending and saying yes everybody we’re going to let you have Christmas but we don’t know what’s going to happen.
‘We could be in the same situation again so if we haven’t fought now we are in the same situation again in January.
‘We’re nailing our colours to the mast and saying we are a business that is going to stay open.’
Chief superintendent Paul Moxley, of West Mercia Police, said the force’s hands are tied by the rules.
‘We remain hugely sympathetic to the difficult times that business owners, particularly small and independent businesses, are having to endure,’ he said.
‘This shop had already been advised previously by Wychavon District Council that they should not be open within the current restrictions and the shop had already been issued with a prohibition notice.
‘We understand the restrictions can be challenging, and we know this business is well-loved in Droitwich, but the Government legislation is in place to minimise the spread of Covid-19 and to keep us all safe.
‘We all have a critical part to play in that.’
Wychavon District Council defended the decision to fine the couple.
‘Grace Cards and Books is registered as a card and gift shop and that is one of the businesses types that have to close by law,’ a spokesperson said.
‘They chose to remain open and so a prohibition notice was issued on Thursday, November 19 under The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020.
‘The Government made the decision on which type of businesses would and would not be allowed to trade and what they would be allowed to sell. We can only enforce the regulations.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.