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Residents on opposite sides of a West Yorkshire street have found themselves living under different lockdown restrictions after the latest changes.
That is because houses on one side of Gain Lane in Thornbury pay their council tax to Leeds, while over the road they fall under the Bradford district.
On Thursday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced stricter lockdown measures for Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale to combat rising infection coronavirus rates in those districts.
Bradford residents can therefore not meet other households indoors or in a private garden, and should not socialise with other households in a public place like pubs, restaurants or shops.
For Shahid Iqbal, who lives just metres from neighbours who are totally unaffected by the new rules, he admitted it was frustrating to cancel a family party to celebrate Eid with just a few hours notice.
The 47-year-old taxi driver said: “We were supposed to have people here at our house to celebrate Eid. We have a big family so there was going to be seven to eight households here.
“But then because of the new rules we didn’t have anyone and we didn’t go out anywhere – we were just here at home.”
‘If we lived 20 yards away we don’t have the new rules. We just feel very unfortunate’
The new measures for Bradford and other areas of England with large Muslim populations were announced just hours before Eid started.
“I don’t know if it was targeted at Eid,” added Shahid.
“It was sad and if we lived 20 yards away we don’t have the new rules. We just feel very unfortunate.”
The Government denied the measures were targeted at mitigating the impact of Eid celebrations – which often involve different households meeting up in the same way Christians celebrate Christmas – on the spread of the virus in areas heavily populated by Msulims.
Shahid’s cancelled family gathering of seven to eight households, which would be banned anywhere in England under current measures, is perhaps evidence that, in his case at least, the new measures stopped a potentially risky situation.
Across the road, Russell Robinson has been trying to get Royal Mail to change his BD postcode to an LS one for years. In the confusion that followed Matt Hancock’s surprise announcement on Thursday he feared their constant refusal to do so could mean he was caught in the Bradford restrictions.
“West Yorkshire Police clarified on their Facebook page a few hours later that it was done on council district and not postcode,” he said.
“But I don’t think it makes too much difference. We haven’t been anywhere anyway because we’re not going out during this.
“Those who believe in it will adopt the new measures and those that don’t, won’t.
“Nobody is wearing masks around here when you go into shops.”
