THE story of Abingdon pub landlord Nicholas Crawford is like a Just So story for our times.

While rules about social distancing have clearly been bent and broken at pubs and other venues across the country, Mr Crawford did the decent and honest thing by going to the council to get permission for his outdoor dining pods.

Last year, his pods were perfectly fine under the Government rules, so he spent another £30,000 installing more of them for this spring.

But this time when he spoke to the council, he was told that his pods were no longer considered safe.

As a result, he's had to shell out thousands extra on gazebos which do obey the latest rules.

Meanwhile, punters at plenty of other pubs around the county are sitting next to all manner of people – relatives, friends, total strangers, many of them already vaccinated.

What's more, Mr Crawford will be able to use his pods on May 17 anyway, making the prohibition feel absurd.

It feels as if the lesson is that those who raise their head above the parapet to check the rules lose out to quieter rule-breakers.