SHOPS and restaurants around Oxford are not using the NHS test and trace QR code on their sites.

In the Westgate Centre, only seven out of the 50 stores were displaying the code when the Oxford Mail visited last week.

Designer shoe stores Vans, Timberland and Dr Marten displayed the QR code on their shop window or store entrance.

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Chocolatier Hotel Chocolat, clothing company Joules and cosmetic shop Bobbie Brown also displayed the code.

Department store John Lewis did not display the QR code on the various entrances to the store, but did display the test and trace system on some make-up counters, like Charlotte Tilbury, however it was not being displayed on the store entrance.

Currently, retailers do not need to display the QR code for test and trace.

When asked whether test and trace should be made compulsory in shops, Westgate Centre shoppers were divided.

Roxanne, a student at Oxford University, said: “If you had to do track and trace in every store, some people may be discouraged from going into the shops.

“It could quickly become a bit of a hassle in that it would take a lot longer to do your shopping.”

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Kat, who was visiting Oxford, however, disagreed. She said: “I think it could help if you knew that someone had Covid in the same place you had been in.

“You touch a lot in shops, and no one is making sure you sanitise your hands before you enter, so track and trace could help.”

But shops are not the only ones failing to enforce the track and trace system.

Locals have said even some restaurants, where it is compulsory to have a test and trace system in place, have not been displaying the code.

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One man said he was ‘amazed’ at the number of restaurants in Oxford that were seemingly not ‘doing any form’ of test and trace despite the new laws.

He had been to two restaurants in Headington at the beginning of October but felt uncomfortable and left when he asked where he could leave his number and was handed their notepad.

He said there was no QR code on the walls to scan, adding: “When I queried they gave me their order pad to write the details on. We left at that point.”

Another woman said she ordered at a restaurant in Oxford city centre but only realised she hadn’t left any details with the staff when she had left.

A spokesperson for Westgate Oxford said: “Our restaurants are required to display the NHS Track & Trace QR code, and this is managed independently by each establishment.”

Other retail venues, such as shops, are not required to display the code.