Hampshire Lidl on Portsmouth border has some aisles in tier 2 and others in tier 4

Store sits on border between Fareham and Portsmouth

(Getty)

A Lidl supermarket in Hampshire has some aisles in tier 2 and others in tier 4 due to its border location between Fareham and Portsmouth.

Fareham is currently in tier 2, a “high alert” area, and Portsmouth is under tier 4, meaning shoppers could be moving between tiers without leaving the supermarket. 

Portsmouth was put under the most severest restrictions last weekend along with London, Gosport and Havant.

In tier 4, the rules are similar to during the second national lockdown in November, with people being told to stay at home and leave only for exceptional reasons, such as to provide care or to shop for groceries.

People in tier 4 are also not permitted to leave their region, meaning that visiting the Portchester Lidl would be against the rules given that much of the store is under tier 2 restrictions.

Fareham police told Hampshire Live that they would not be stopping people from moving in between tiers.

However, they added that they would enforce “blatant breaches” of restrictions.

Hampshire’s assistant chief constable Maggie Blyth said a statement: “I’d urge people to take personal responsibility over the next few weeks.

“Just because you can travel to different areas doesn’t mean that you have to. With the new tier 4 restrictions in place there are restrictions on leaving home which people should be taking account of.”

Many new areas of England entered into tier 4 on Boxing Day. This includes Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

The Independent has contacted Lidl for comment.