A few months ago, I was advised that I should suspend my regular fishing trips from Herefordshire over the border into the Wales.

This was because Wales had restricted inward travel because of their own lower rates of coronavirus.

Recently, when the situation was reversed, with Herefordshire having very low and some adjoining parts of Wales having very high rates, I learned about hundreds of Welsh people coming here to visit our pubs and shops, restricted in their own neighbourhoods.

In some cases, this was even when the requirement was that they should not travel.

This makes a nonsense of aspiring be a low tier area, if all it does is makes us a target for some irresponsible and hypocritical people travelling here from areas with higher infection restrictions and, possibly unwittingly, bringing their infection with them!

With the likelihood of future pandemics and probability of increased pressures, due to illegal immigration, I firmly believe that this adds to the case for the introduction of Identity Cards.

This would discourage people from illegal travel, if they were to be readily identified and sanctioned.

One lesson that should be learned, from the current crisis, is the value of comprehensive contingency planning and I would include the introduction of ID cards to that of substantial reserves of PPE.

Richard Bradbury

Much Cowarne

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