CORONAVIRUS: Police praise majority - but say too many are still breaching the rules in the county

Although the majority of residents across the county have followed Covid-19 rules, there have still been too many showing blatant disregard, say police.
ACC WilsonACC Wilson
ACC Wilson

Lincolnshire Police has now issued 567 fines related to coronavirus restrictions since March last year – and one of its senior officers says the breaches are increasing.

Recent incidents have included eight people from different households having a party in a one-man tent.

Assistant Chief Constable Kerrin Wilson said the force wanted to send a big thank you to the community for working together to keep everyone safe.

But she said there were still a large number of breachers in the county, which not only caused risk to themselves and everybody else, but also diverted police resources which could be used elsewhere.

She warned that the county would be talking more robust action against those who break the rules.

And following the announcement by Home Secretary Pritti Patel on Thursday, those who do breach will now be facing bigger fines, said ACC Wilson.

Lincolnshire Police has highlighted the recent fines given to eight people from different households who had a party in a one-man tent in Oftlers Plantation in Woodhall Spa. Officers attended the incident just after 11pm on January 16th.

Another incident highlighted was that of a 45-year-old man issued with a fixed penalty notice after driving from Chesterfield to see Lincoln City Football Ground in the early hours of January 9thas part of a countrywide road trip.

Assistant Chief Constable Kerrin Wilson said: “We’ve got a brilliant community spirit across Lincolnshire. By and large everybody has been patient and they are doing their utmost to make sure that we are as a county looking after the vulnerable and being as safe as we can.

“We do however have a number of Covid breaches that are increasing here in Lincolnshire and that takes a toll on our officers to be able to deal with them.

“Some of them are quite flagrant breaches such as parties in the woods, or people travelling to go and visit a football stadium.

“That is breaking the rules, and we are dealing with those very robustly.”

ACC Wilson also spoke about those who are bending or stretching the rules, and warned they were adding to the potential spread of the virus.

“We do have a number of people who are bending the rules as well and that might be as simple as having an extra support bubble, or just meeting somebody to go for a coffee or inviting somebody into your house to have coffee,” she said.

“That's putting people at risk so it's those bending the rules that are actually adding to the potential spread of this virus, at the moment. So I’d just urge you to consider that, because by and large, we have been really, really good in this county.”