Go North East bus worker and daughter make face masks for customers during coronavirus pandemic

Lynn Gamblin, a revenue clerk at Go North East has been busy helping support the company and its customers by making face coverings during the coronavirus crisis.

With the help of her daughter, Izzy, they have handmade over 70 fabric face masks in their own time, which will help Go North East customers adhere to the new face covering requirements on public transport.

Thanks to Lynn and Izzy’s kind gesture, bus station supervisors at both Gateshead Interchange and Metrocentre Interchange will be giving out face coverings to passengers that need them.

Face coverings, which are now mandatory on public transport, do not necessarily have to be face masks. They can be scarves, snoods, bandanas, or even something homemade like Lynn and Izzy’s creations.

In line with guidance from the government, there are some exemptions that allow certain people to travel without a face covering.

Exemptions include:

• Children under 11-years-old and young people travelling on dedicated school transport services.
• People with breathing difficulties and other respiratory conditions.
• People with mental, physical or sensory difficulties, including those who may not understand or remember that they need to wear one.
• People that would find it difficult to put on or take off a face covering safely, accurately, consistently or without pain.
• People who rely on lip reading and accompanying carers who will need to communicate with them.

To make things easier for these people, Go North East has introduced downloadable cards on its website that people can use to show bus drivers that they are exempt.

Commenting on the kindness of Lynn and Izzy, managing director at Go North East, Martijn Gilbert, said: “I’m truly blown away by the commitment Lynn and Izzy have shown to spend countless hours making these face coverings to protect colleagues and customers – I can’t thank them enough.

“I’d also like to encourage any customers who have exemptions to download the cards from our website to make things easier for both them and our drivers.”

To find out more about face covering requirements on public transport, visit www.gonortheast.co.uk/face-coverings.