The Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced that from the 15th June coinciding with the opening of non essential ships, face coverings must be worn on public transport in England.
Grant Shapps said that does not mean surgical masks, but ones you can make at home.Previously, government advice urged the public to wear a face covering in crowded and enclosed places, but it was not made mandatory.
Travel firms will be able to refuse to carry passengers not wearing coverings and there may also be fines.
The measures can be enforced by British Transport Police, but Mr Shapps expects the “vast majority of people won’t need to be forced” to comply with the rules.
Shapps says he wants to use the pandemic to create a “green transport revolution”.
“Our history shows us how quickly we can update as a nation,” he says, as he discusses the history of UK transport.
“Each of these transport revolutions was triggered by a unique alignment… combining to bring about change and now we stand on the verge of a new transport revolution,” he says.
