Wiltshire Police has told hundreds of people who were seen queuing to buy ice cream in Swindon car parks to ‘consider whether their journey was essential’.
Despite the lockdown laws in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus through non-essential travel, local residents drove to two sites in the town – Bridgemead Retail Park and the County Ground car park – on Sunday afternoon to collect from Chez’s Ices – some even queued for an hour and a half.
A Wiltshire Police spokesperson said: “We were alerted to long queues of people waiting in their cars to be served ice cream at locations in Swindon over the weekend.
“Officers attended and also spoke to the licensing team at Swindon Borough Council to clarify the situation.
“They confirmed that the vendors had the correct licences in places and were observing the health and safety rules in place for takeaway food businesses.
“Social distancing rules were also observed by all the customers.
“We would, however, continue to urge people to look at their own actions and take personal responsibility about whether their journey is essential and whether their actions could put either themselves or others at risk.”
