A Fife man who has not seen his grandchildren since February has had to ditch plans to deliver their presents in person this Christmas.
Ken Topping, 61, expects that by the time he eventually gets to see five-year-old Gracie and nine-year-old Zach a whole year will have passed since their last meeting.
Mr Topping, who lives near St Andrews, had planned to travel to see his daughter Isla, 32, and her children in North Shields near Newcastle.
Having stuck to the rules rigidly he had hoped to take advantage of the five day relaxation of restrictions to make the trip.
“I was looking forward to it immensely,” he said.
“Obviously because of the miles I’m not as close to them as I would like to be.
“February 8 was the last time that I saw them.”
Mr Topping cares for his parents who are both shielding. He believes he should have been on the shielding list himself, because of diabetes and heart problems, but he never received a letter.
“I basically carried on as I would have done, looking after my parents,” he said.
He described the last-minute announcement by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as “so frustrating”.
He added: “I’ve gone through lockdown by the rules, and been protecting my parents from Covid-19.
“I do my shopping at 8.30pm at now because that’s when there’s nobody pushing in to get a packet of whatever from the shelf right in front of you.
“These announcements made by Sturgeon, to me they’re just a mish-mash. To me, she changes things and nobody knows what they’re supposed to be doing sometimes. It’s not clear enough.”
Labour councillor David Graham, Fife Council’s health spokesman, said for some cancelling their plans was “devastating news”.
He said: “These restrictions will be a huge challenge to many people who are already struggling practically and emotionally with restrictions which have spanned over the last nearly 10 months.
“We are now seeing communities and businesses struggling to cope emotionally and in many occasions financially as we see businesses going to the wall and therefore hundreds of jobs lost across the country.
“Everyone knows that we must keep our communities safe from the virus but we are seeing the emotional and financial strain on communities every day.
“I urge communities to stick together and support each other where they can to get through these challenging times for everyone.”
