Police receive complaints about parking at St Aiden's nature reserve in Allerton Bywater

The poor car parking was witnessed by residents visiting St Aiden's nature reserve in Allerton Bywater on Monday, January 11.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police's east Leeds team said: "Whilst we encourage people to continue to use local green spaces for exercise / their own well-being during the current lockdown, we ask them to ensure that if travelling a short distance to get there that they should park in a safe and legal manner.

"We have had several complaints around the entrance to St Aiden's nature reserve in Allerton Bywater regarding the parking.

"We will be continuing to monitor the situation as it has clearly been busy down there this weekend.

"There is a layby which is ok to park in but there have been a few cars blocking the entrance to Queen Street/Astley Lane and parking around the junction with Wood Lane.

"It is a fast road and members of the public should not have to be walking on the road to get past cars."

Speaking at a Downing Street press conference on Monday, Mr Hancock was pressed on whether people should exercise seven miles from their home – thought to be a reference to reports that Prime Minister Boris Johnson cycled in east London at the weekend.

The Health Secretary said: “Yes, you can go and exercise in the park with one other person, but only one other person.

“And we have been seeing large groups and that is not acceptable. And you should be two metres apart from the other person.

“If there are too many people breaking this rule then we are going to have to look at it.

“But, I don’t want to do that because, for many people being able to go for a walk with a friend, that often is their only social contact.

“It is OK to go for a walk with one other person around a park, but you should stay two metres apart from that other person.

“And, likewise, it is OK, if you went for a long walk and ended up seven miles away from home, that is OK.

“But, you should stay local, you should not go from one side of a country to another, potentially taking the virus with you.”