My business has been serving the Aberdeen public since 1981 and is in jeopardy due to Aberdeen City Council’s preoccupation with closing all city centre streets accessing car parks to one way for the purposes of social distancing.
Many customers coming to the city centre (including locals) have no idea how to get to car parks.
How can this assist business recovery?
I have no problem with trying to help social distancing, but easily understandable access should be paramount.
An easy example of the absurdity of the closures (albeit temporary with no timescale) is if a customer from Bridge of Don, Ellon, Fraserburgh or Peterhead comes in to visit the Bon Accord Centre and hopefully the surrounding shops, bars and restaurants.
They approach from King Street, Mounthooly Roundabout and Gallowgate, but you can’t turn right down Berry Street to the car park.
The same nonsense happens in Harriet Street car park at the top of Schoolhill, which says “Road Closed” as you approach from Rosemount Viaduct past HMT.
Nobody walks these side streets under normal circumstances, let alone during these abnormal times, so why make it The Krypton Factor to find access to a car park?
These car parks can control numbers with their barriers, they don’t need ACC to put people off.
There are many other examples, such as Union Street and Rosemount Place.
In short, dear ACC, please backtrack and make car park access easy.
Andrew G M Begg, Partner, Andrew Begg Shoes & Dancewear, 24-26 Upperkirkgate, Aberdeen.
Fairer way to enforce quarantine
As someone caught up in the recent Spanish quarantine changes, I’m having to stay in my house for two weeks despite leaving Spain within 24 hours of the new rules being announced.
I have accepted the circumstances, but I believe it would have been fairer for travellers in Spain, travel companies, airlines, and businesses in UK and Spain alike if the UK Government simply said to the Spanish authorities: “We see your Covid-19 figures are creeping up – if this continues for the next seven days we shall re-enforce the 14-day quarantine period.”
This would have allowed travellers in Spain, and those still at home, as well as businesses, time to reassess their plans.
AF, Osborne Place, Aberdeen.
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