Yahoo Finance English drive-in cinema’s toilets out of use because they’re located in locked down Wales
Customers at an upcoming Halloween drive-in cinema in Chester will not be able to use the normal toilets because they’re located in Wales which is under increased coronavirus restrictions.
Event promoter Storyhouse has been forced to rent some portable toilets at Chester FC’s Deva Stadium so viewers will be able to relieve themselves.
Anyone who used the normal toilet facilities in the stand would have broken Welsh COVID-19 regulations after crossing the border from northwest England to use them.
The portable loos are located on the English side so a crisis has been averted and movie fans will be able to enjoy films like Halloween, Beetlejuice and Hocus Pocus in comfort.
Watch: Lockdown in Wales begins
Storyhouse CEO Andrew Bentley said: “We’re doing a Halloween drive-in at Deva Stadium.
“It turns out the border goes through the middle of the car park but the screen is mostly in Wales.
“We are already having to refund our customers who live in Wales as cinema is part of their circuit breaker.
“However, customers who live in England are also to be banned from straying into the wrong bit of the car park to watch the film, and Flintshire police say they will enforce at the event.”
The Welsh “fire-break” lockdown began on Friday and ends on 9 November.
Everybody but essential workers will have to work from home and all non-essential retail, leisure, hospitality and tourist businesses will have to close.
Retailers that can stay open, such as supermarkets, were told on Thursday regulations require them to only sell what the Welsh government deems to be “essential” product lines, partly to protect smaller businesses that have to close that are being put at an unfair advantage.
Retailers have written urgently to First Minister Mark Drakeford expressing alarm over the new regulations.
“Compelling retailers to stop selling certain items, without them being told clearly what is and what isn’t permitted to be sold, is ill-conceived and short-sighted,” said Sara Jones, head of the Welsh Retail Consortium.
James Lowman, Chief Executive of the Association of Convenience Stores, said the regulations were badly thought out.
“Retailers must not be forced to stop making products available to customers just because ministers don’t think they’re essential,” he added.
Business affected by the “fire-break” will be supported by a £300 million fund.
Watch: Town on English-Welsh border angered by differing virus rules
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