North Wales lockdowns are having an impact on businesses not deemed a 'reasonable excuse'

While people in lockdown in North Wales, in border communities like Saltney, can travel into Cheshire work if they cannot work from home, essential shopping or medical appointments, if it is their closest option.

Police on the Cheshire/Flintshire border in Saltney during the national lockdown

But crossing the border to buy clothes, or to get a haircut, beauty treatment or tattoo is not permitted.

In Chester city centre, tattoo studio Inked Up has seen a number of cancellations of people from Flintshire and Wrexham who had booked slots for tattoos.

Due to social distancing and extra hygiene measures, studios are limited to the number of bookings they can take in a day.

And studios like Inked Up were just getting back to a new normal after being closed for months during the national lockdown.

Inked Up artist working under the name Lady Boris, who lives in Flintshire, said: "Next week, I had at least three cancellations, which I can understand because it is people abiding to the rules. You're not allowed to get a tattoo in a different area, so they're just doing what they're told. But obviously it effects nearby businesses like ours because most people travel into Chester to go to the shops.

Inked Up tattoo artists Lucy and Lady Boris won awards at last year's Buckley Tattoo Convention

Boris added: "Speaking for the business, its affected us all. We have all had cancellations, some have had big jumps some small jumps. One artist had a cancellation for a £200 job and another has lost a full day sitting. If its hitting us, it will be hitting the other studios around Chester too.

"We were quite lucky after the first lockdown because we had an influx of people that wanted to book in instantly. The only upside to this is that people in the Flintshire area might want to book in again, so we'll have a second burst of people who have been stuck inside who say 'right, I'll get that tattoo done. It also depends how long these lockdowns go on, it's a bit nerve-wracking because we have a lot of business that comes through Flintshire and the Wrexham area. It's a bit worrying because we've had one week of cancellations, I don't know how many of our bookings for the following week are from the Flintshire area and will need to be cancelled.

"The other sad thing is we are a safe environment. It's frustrating that we have a safe, sterile environment, but if you're from outside the area you're not allowed to come here."

Inked Up on Eastgate Road, Chester

During a media briefing, Wales' Health Minister Vaughan Gething said that the Welsh Government was relying on people to use caution and their common sense when considering leaving their local authority area.

He said: "Look at what is a reasonable excuse to travel into or outside one of these areas of local restrictions. If you live on a border and your nearest place for an essential food shop is just over the border where otherwise it would take you 20 minutes of travel within that local authority area, it would be a reasonable excuse to go and do your food shop, or collect your prescription, or go to a health care appointment, outside of the area. There are people who need to cross county borders and the England and Wales border. The problem is with things that aren't really a reasonable excuse. We've seen the challenges like going on holiday, it's not a reasonable excuse to go to Birmingham or Liverpool to fly away on holiday. And I'm afraid that if you've booked in to have a tattoo, it's not going to be a reasonable excuse."

Health Minister Vaughan Gething

Mr Gething added: "We are looking for people to exercise some judgement and some caution because the Welsh Government can't create a thicket of rules to cover any and every eventuality. That way would be incredible difficult and even more confusing. We are asking people to exercise some common sense and to recognise that there are lots of things that aren't going to be a reasonable excuse to either go into one of the locally restricted areas or out of them."

The local lockdowns were put in place in Denbighshire, Conwy, Flintshire and Wrexham last Thursday at 6pm following a rapid increase in the number of confirmed cases in coronavirus.

Under the rules, nobody is able to enter or leave the counties without a "reasonable excuse".

Schools, public transport and services remain open and operational, with students living in Cheshire still able to cross the border and attend schools and colleges in North Wales, as keeping schools open remains a "top priority" for the Welsh Government.

Residents are not allowed to travel over the border to play sport or exercise, unless they have mobility issues and can only exercise if the nearest convenient location is in a different county.

Travelling to and from the area for amateur sport activities, including cycling, is not permissible. Cyclists will only be able to cross the border if it is for work purposes.

Exceptions include travelling to school or to work if you are unable to work from home.

People can travel to buy food and medical supplies, seek medical assistance or go to the vets, and move home.

The new local restrictions will be kept under regular review, with the first review scheduled after 14 days, then every seven days after that.

They will be enforced by local authorities and by the police.

Fixed penalty notices will be issued for most types of breaches of the regulations, and these will only be after police have encouraged people to comply with the regulations.

Fines start at £60; this is increased to £120 for a second offence and continues to double for repeated offences, up to a maximum of £1,920. If prosecuted, however, a court can impose a fine of any amount.