waremark wrote:"The current regulations do not refer to essential or non-essential but 'reasonably necessary' for a specific purpose. "
Are you stating that it would be a criminal offence to drive for pleasure? Or just that it is contrary to guidelines?
The Statutory Instrument 2020 (1200) states... “No person may leave or be outside of the place where they are living without reasonable excuse”
For “excuse” read “reason”, then it makes more sense; except “reasonable reason” wouldn’t sound right.
The regulations then list examples of what might be considered “reasonable excuse”. Driving for pleasure is not listed, but of course the list is not exhaustive. However, ... “to visit a public outdoor place for the purpose of open air recreation” is regarded as a “reasonable excuse” for being outside your residence. The regulations are silent on how you get to the public outdoor place.
So, it seems there’s nothing to prevent you driving to a public outdoor place for the purpose of open air recreation whilst having a pleasurable drive to get there!
Anyway, that’s my understanding of the law this week. Next week Boris has a whole different raft of rules for us.