Face-mask ‘rip-off’: Parents are forced to pay ten times more for children’s face masks than adult ones
- Dinosaur masks are priced at £13 each, while Frozen masks are billed at £11
- This compares to adult face masks being priced at around £1 on average
- Boris Johnson has warned face masks may also become compulsory in shops
Children’s face masks are being charged at ten times more than adult ones as retailers seek to rake in profits on the lockdown essentials.
Dinosaur masks have been put on shelves at £13 each, while those decorated with Elsa from Disney movie Frozen are billed at £11 for two and masks showing figures from computer game Minecraft are at £14.
This compares to just £1 on average for adult face masks – and sometimes as little as 66p each.
The hefty pricing comes ahead of statements suggesting that the government may require face masks to be worn in shops.
Frozen face masks for children have been placed on shelves at £11 for two
And those showing dinosaurs, such as the one pictured, are priced at £13 each
Minecraft-themed face masks for children have been priced at £14. It comes as the government warns they may make it mandatory to wear masks in shops
Retailers have also placed Marvel heroes on children’s face masks, making them £8.50, animal faces, raising the price to £10, and unicorns, at £6.99 each.
Mother-of-six Rebecca Jones, 40, from Newport, told The Sun on Sunday that she wouldn’t be able to afford all these face masks.
‘I have to take a ferry next week so have been trying to find a face mask for my 11-year-old,’ she said.
‘But I’ve only been able to find one shop that sells them, and at £5 they are double the price of the adult ones I can get in Asda.
‘If I end up having to buy them for all my kids that will be way too expensive. Also, the two-year-old will keep taking his off.’
Masks with patterns put parents under pressure to pay far more for masks for their children. There are plain masks for kids available priced at £2.99 for four – or 74p each.
Adult face masks on the other hand cost £1 on average – and some as little as 66p each
Children’s face masks adorned with Marvel heroes have been priced at £8.50 each
Many celebrities have been pictured wearing face masks as authorities call for them to be used to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Amber Heard wore a red face mask as she attended London’s High Court. And dame Judie Dench donned an animal-patterned face mask as she visited the British Wildlife Centre in Surrey.
Boris Johnson warned on July 10 that the requirement to wear face masks on public transport may also be extended to shops.
‘We need to be stricter in insisting that people wear face coverings in confined places where they are meeting people that they don’t normally meet,’ he said.
In England, rules state that anyone over the age of 11 should wear a face mask when on a ferry, bus, train or plane.
This has been extended in Scotland – where people are also required to wear the facial coverings in shops.
The World Health Organisation advises that face coverings should be worn by anyone under the age of 60 on public transport or in some enclosed work environments.
They said it could provide ‘a barrier for potentially infectious droplets’ where ‘physical distancing of at least one metre is not possible’.