‘Millions’ of calendars and diaries printed with wrong May bank holiday after last-minute date change

'Don’t be caught out!' Twitter user writes

Millions of calendars have reportedly been printed with the incorrect early May bank holiday after its 2020 date was changed.

In June, it was announced that the 2020 early May bank holiday date had been moved from Monday 4 May to Friday 8 May to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

According to The Sun, by the time the May bank holiday date change was announced, the majority of the UK’s 40 million diaries and calendars had already been printed.

Therefore, it is estimated that approximately 30 million calendars were not produced accurately.

The printing error has led to befuddlement among some consumers and warnings to travellers to be vigilant when selecting dates for their spring holidays.

“Crazy that the government changed the May bank holiday from 4th to 8th May after millions of diaries and calendars had been printed! Don’t be caught out!!” one person tweeted.

“Lots of people getting a swift lesson in supply chain,” another added.

Several people stated their belief that Monday 4 May should be declared a bank holiday in addition to Friday 8 May.

Nonetheless, others stated that consumers should not be caught out by the date change, considering it was declared six months ago.

“My mentions on this are split pretty evenly between ‘oh it’s been all over the news for months’ and ‘huh??’,” one person tweeted.

“Already hearing of wedding upheavals and similar problems. Expect more will follow in new year.”

In June, an engaged couple explained that the moving of the May bank holiday date put their wedding day into question.

Simon Aherne and Anna Cousins told the BBC that while they respected the change of the date to commemorate VE Day, they didn’t understand why there was a lack of prior warning.

“How can the government just chuck this on people with 11 months to go?” Mr Aherne said.

“They have had time to prepare and could have given people a lot more notice.”