Gypsy family ignore coronavirus social-distancing rules as 40 turn up to funeral
A GYPSY family risked their health to bury a loved one when 40 members turned up to his funeral yesterday.
Mourners for travelling community elder Alfred Loveridge, 82, ignored social-distancing rules as they paid their respects at his graveside.
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It came as police were blasted for stopping people going fishing and using drones to film others parking their cars and taking a walk.
Some councils have limited the number of funeral mourners to ten to help with the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.
Six family members followed Alfie’s coffin on foot as the hearse drove from his home to the nearby cemetery in Upwell, Norfolk.
They were followed on the funeral route by other mourners in up to eight cars.
A group gathered in a 20ft by 8ft marquee beside the grave for Alfred, who did not die from coronavirus.
His son, Alfie Jnr, had gone on Facebook before the lockdown to invite people to follow the cortege from his Dad’s home.
A pal asked: “Alfie, I thought it was restricted and the church won’t allow many people.”
He replied: “We’re not going in the church.
“We’re going straight to the cemetery and we are having a vicar there to read his prayers.”
Locals said “loose” Government guidance allowing “immediate family” to funerals may explain the turn-out.
One said: “The travelling community around here often have large and extended families who are very close.
“The guidance about funerals under the new coronavirus conditions is very vague because how can you say who is immediate family? It all depends on how big your family is.
"Alfie was a very well-respected man around here and I think a lot more people wanted to attend his funeral, but stayed away because of the restrictions.
“His family brought forward the ceremony by a week and kept it as small as possible.
“They went to great efforts to comply with the guidance.
“Traveller funerals are often huge, and this was very contained and conservative compared with others.”
But one onlooker said that the mourners “looked like sardines in a tin”.
Another villager added: “It’s an incredibly difficult time but we must all stick together and it just doesn’t work if people flout the rules.”
A spokesman for Upwell Parish Council, which runs the cemetery, said: “The funeral director asked to hold the service outdoors as, for the moment, there is a restriction on what can happen in churches.
“I gave permission for that as I felt it was safer than being inside.
“All the council did was sell them the plot.”
Central England Co-operative Society, which organised the funeral, said that "further groups of mourners" arrived after the organisers left when the scheduled ceremony ended.
Government health watchdog Public Health England warned that mourners need to stay 6ft (2m) apart at funerals.
The National Association of Funeral Directors said it was “vital” that funeral services followed the rule.
Meanwhile, police were accused of misusing Covid-19 powers yesterday and acting like a “new Gestapo” for stopping people going fishing.
At Christchurch, Dorset, officers bragged of patrolling the Stanpit Marsh on the lookout for anglers.
In pictures on the force’s Facebook page, they posed at the beauty spot’s empty car parks, which are permitted to stay open.
Another showed an empty children’s playground, calling it an “ASB” — anti- social behaviour — hotspot.
Derbyshire Police have used drones to film people parking their cars to walk in the Peak District and released black dye into Buxton’s Blue Lagoon to deter sightseers.
Motorists have been pulled over in many areas of the UK and told to return home.
Cops have targeted the public in London Parks, with Richmond barring cyclists.
Police chiefs admit that under the emergency legislation there is no restriction on how long people can be outdoors if they are alone or with people they live with.
They concede it is lawful for motorists to drive where they want to exercise.
Retired Met Police Det Chief Insp Mick Neville said: “Less than a month ago forces were bleating that they had insufficient officers.
“Now some have turned into the new Gestapo. Common sense seems to have vanished from policing.
“We’ve even got one force proudly boasting about checking beach car parks and playgrounds and chasing away people committing the so-called offence of fishing in a public place.”
Lord Sumption, a former Justice of the Supreme Court, said Derbyshire’s use of drones was “disgraceful”.
He added: “Policemen are citizens in uniform, they are not members of a disciplined hierarchy operating just at the Government’s command.”
Derbyshire’s chief constable, Peter Goodman, denied the force had gone “too far”.
He said: “We are trying to do everything through conversation and explanation.”
West Midlands Police Chief Constable Dave Thompson said people “just need to cut us a little bit of slack”.
He urged the public to be patient towards police and PCSOs who are “putting themselves in harm’s way and at high risk of infection”.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council has issued guidelines to all forces urging them to adopt a “consistent” approach to tackling the new social distancing rules.
The Angling Trust has urged fishermen and women to “stay safe, stay home” during the coronavirus pandemic.
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A spokesperson for Central England Co-operative Society said: "Following close work with partners in Local Government, we have recently rolled out a range of new measures based on their advice and guidance to minimise risk to our colleagues, all funeral directors and their teams and all mourners and the public.
"We can confirm that these measures – including social distancing and cemetery mourner limits – were all respected during the funeral ceremony our team conducted at Upwell Cemetery today (31 March).
"It has been reported to us that after our colleagues left the cemetery, further groups of mourners arrived and congregated in the area. This was not a scheduled part of the ceremony and our colleagues were not present at the time."
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