“It’s a mark of respect for each other” - Readers' share their thoughts on £200 fines for not wearing a mask

Here are a selection of the comments that our readers’ had to say on the matter:

Trevor Wright shared his thoughts saying, “Whether people agree or not it's not exactly a great hardship to put a bloody mask on really is it?”

And Joanie Milne agreed with the rule change, commenting that “it’s a mark of respect for each other”.

Meanwhile, Barbara O'Connor says that it will be “Difficult to implement but I’ll continue to wear one inside and on public transport to protect others as well as myself for as long as it takes.”

Linda Griffiths shared her perspective when she replied, “At the moment the only thing we can do is to wear a mask. But it’s up to all of us as individuals to use the best method of containing this as we can.”

On the other hand Michael Moss was very clear in his views about wearing masks, saying “YES, YES and YES. It's for your protection and every person who doesn’t without a medical reason are SELFISH!”

It seems that some places are taking the rule change seriously, Robert Toseland noted that “In the bank today one person was told put your mask on or leave. He did as he was told”

Net Burton commented saying, "Today in Superdry at Meadowhall… I heard one of the shop Assistant say to a new employee that if people don’t wear mask in their store they will call security and have them removed from the store if they refuse to weak a face mask”

On Twitter, Simon Dell / Mr Photographer said, “sure why not .. worn a mask from day one in all public places .. but it's going to be crazy hard to enforce when we all to often see those making the rules not following them.”

But not everyone is sold on the idea or the just disagree entirely, Ian Topley says that “It’s totally unenforceable so it’s as nonsensical as the other restrictions.”

Adrian Adams responded saying that, “After all these lockdowns doing what we’re told… Masks aren’t proven to stop spread of Covid. It should be up to the individual if He/ She wants to..Personally I’m quite p***ed off of been told what to do...”

Debbie Malkin followed up by adding her view on the situation, “But yet you can go into a music venue with hundreds of people without one”

Steve Hudson asked the question, “How does covid know the difference between a bus and a pub? Just curious.”

One of the responses that received a number of positive responses came from Emma Louise Bingham, who said “If police wont come out for a 999 call, then why would they for not wearing a mask?”

And there are the other people who just don’t think that the fine will be enough of a deterrent.

David Elshaw believes that “No one will enforce this law. All they can do is hope people follow the rules.”

Sharon Jones says that “A fine would be impossible to implement”, a response that received a number of thumbs up emojis as a sign of agreeing with her view.

Margaret Woolhouse’s comment on the topic recieved a number of replies and quite a few people seemed to agree with her take on things. She responded saying, “It’s called care in the community , even if you don’t believe it works , is it such a great inconvenience to wear it on a bus or in a shop after all they are not asking you to wear it all day unless of cause you have to wear one at work which puts complaining and making a fuss about wearing masks in when shopping etc: into perspective , if it does help save just one person from this virus surely it’s worth it after all you’re not doing this for yourself but for others around you.”

In closing, Rich Ward’s take seemed to cover the majority of responses, “Yes, where there are aggravating factors, such harrassment or threatening behaviour. However, a public information campaign would be more beneficial, particularly after reading comments here that show some ongoing ignorance of the purpose and benefits of masks/face coverings.”

Most of the people who responded were of the opinion that the idea in principle is good but noted that it will likely not be enforced in most places and questioned how it would be policed. A smaller number of other respondents seemed to have had enough of being dictated to.