Police crash 300 Halloween parties in one weekend

Over 300 gatherings were broken up by police across Scotland over the weekend.

Officers handed out more than 300 penalties and arrested 24 people.

From Friday to Sunday, police had to deal with more than 300 house parties.

The majority of Fixed penalty notices (FPN) issued were to small groups from different households meeting in homes in clear breach of the regulations in place to tackle the spread of coronavirus.

Scotland recorded 951 positive coronavirus tests in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 66,012, with a daily test positivity rate of 9.6%, up from 7% on Sunday.

Officers also dealt with several large-scale parties throughout the country.

In one incident, around 100 people were gathered at a party within a rented property in Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire.

Police attended the property just after midnight on Saturday and found a 48-seater party bus and several cars parked outside.

A 46-year-old man was charged with a breach of coronavirus regulations and issued with a FPN.

The organiser of the party, a 33-year-old man, was charged with culpable and reckless conduct.

He is expected to appear at Falkirk Sheriff Court on Friday November 27.

The bus driver was also issued with a FPN and inquiries to establish if any further offences occurred are under way.

In the early hours of Sunday police were called to a report of a house gathering in the New Town area of Edinburgh.

Thirty students were found to be within a property and all received FPNs.

While in Glasgow, officers issued 64 fixed penalty notices and charged a 26-year-old man with culpable and reckless conduct after being called to reports of an illegal Halloween party at a warehouse in Hyde Park Street around 5.30pm on Sunday November 1.

Officers who attended noticed many people were not wearing masks and no physical distancing was in place.

Between Friday and Sunday November 1, more than 3,000 calls relating to nuisance, noise and disturbance were made to Police Scotland.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Speirs said: "Officers dealt with a significant number of calls to house gatherings over the weekend and we have been quite clear that we will enforce the law where necessary, as the public would expect us to do.

"We are not just talking about large parties.

"The vast majority were smaller groups of different households meeting indoors.

"House gatherings of any size cause the virus to spread and we are asking people to do the right thing and take personal responsibility.

"I fully understand the implications the current restrictions have on our daily lives, but we cannot have people twisting the rules and disregarding the law which is there to stop the spread of coronavirus and help save lives.

"Anyone clearly breaking the law should be in no doubt that they will be met with a robust response from Police Scotland."

Hear all the latest news from across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and Falkirk on the hour, every hour, at Forth 1. Listen on FM, via our Radio Forth app, on your DAB radio, online at Forth1.com, or say ‘Play Forth 1’ on your Smart Speaker.