COVID-19: Trains, planes and buses may have their own rules on face masks after July 19, says transport secretary | UK News

The transport secretary told MPs he was “very relaxed” about airlines, train companies and bus operators imposing their own rules related to COVID, including the wearing of face masks, in- beyond July 19.

Speaking at a Transport Committee testimony session, Grant Shapps said individual companies could implement travel conditions beyond the final stage of easing the government lockdown if they so choose. .

But he confirmed that he would not issue any “general instructions” to companies requiring them to keep COVID security measures in place.

COVID updates live from UK and around the world

Mr. Shapps also did not deny that the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, could impose the wearing of blankets in the London Underground if he wished.

Monday at a press conference in Downing Street, Boris Johnson announced that there would no longer be a legal requirement to wear face masks in stores or on public transport beyond the final stage of the lockdown easing.

Some unions and Labor leader Sir Keir Starmer suggested wearing a mask should remain compulsory on modes of transport to ensure the safety of people.

But Mr Shapps defended the government’s plans to remove the legal requirement to use a mask and instead ask people to use “common sense and personal responsibility” as “entirely reasonable.”

“So we’re moving into this next phase where people are showing common sense and personal responsibility to decide these things and I think that’s actually a reasonable path to take,” he told MPs at the time. of the committee hearing.

“If organizations require this to be a condition of transportation, then I’m very relaxed about it and it’s up to them to do it.”