Pensioners are concerned about gatherings in popular spots such as Highbury Fields

ISLINGTON pensioners say they don’t think the younger generation is taking the dangers of coronavirus seriously as, with hot weather due to return this weekend, parks and beaches continue to fill.

Bob Collins, who chairs the Islington Pensioners Forum, said his “senior colleagues” were worried when they saw hundreds of youngsters filling up parks around the borough in what do not always seem to be isolated households or groups of no more than six as the government’s guidelines state.

But the former postal worker said that he blamed the government’s “confused” messaging for creating an environment where many could be unwittingly facilitating a “second wave” of the virus.

The 74-year-old who lives in Highbury New Park, said: “I go on my daily walk with my wife Sandra and when we get to the park [Highbury Fields] we try to let other walkers and runners go past us safely.

Bob Collins: ‘People think now it is all right not to keep their distance’

“But people think now it is all right not to keep their distance. We are still wary of things and not too sure of what is correct and what is not. We worry because of our age, if someone comes near us the virus could be there, that is our general feeling.”

Prime minister Boris Johnson has come under fire for not sacking his senior adviser and Islington resident Dominic Cummings after he broke lockdown rules by driving hundreds of miles to Durham in late April.

Mr Johnson said he accepted Mr Cummings’ explanation that he was acting within the guidelines as he and his journalist wife Mary Wakefield were potentially suffering with Covid-19 and so would not be able to care for their four-year-old son.

But the government has since been accused of undermining the public’s trust in the rules.

After that Mr Johnson announced that up to six people from different households are allowed to meet up in private gardens or in parks, and on Tuesday he announced that people living alone would be allowed to stay at one other household in a “support bubble”.

But these new rules do not apply to those with serious underlying health conditions who are “shielding” by avoiding contact with anyone outside their household.

Mr Collins said: “It’s not just the Cummings issue, everything about this has been confusing.

“When I phone people up during this lockdown, they will say they heard a government minister on the radio or TV who said this, this and this, then 20 minutes later someone else comes on and says it is not like that.”

He added: “I sympathise with young people and with the protesters. But when I see beaches and parks that are full I think people can’t be taking this seriously.”