More Covid fines in January than in ALL OF 2020
Around £170,000 in fines has been issued in Rutland and across Leicestershire.
Last updated 6th Feb 2021
Police in Rutland and across Leicestershire issues more fines for coronavirus breaches in January 2021 than in all of 2020.
Leicestershire Police gave out 889 fixed penalty notices between 1 January and 2 February, compared to 850 between 23 March and 31 December 2020.
Last month's tickets add up to around £170,000.
One incident in January involved a couple driving 13 miles to East Midlands Airport, "just watching planes". The police force released a video of their encounter with police.
Assistant Chief Constable Kerry Smith said: “We continue to say thank you to all of the public who are complying with the rules and understand why they are in place. This is allowing us to continue to do other work tackling crime and getting some really good results. The bottom line is that we have had to step up our enforcement as the message was not getting through to the small minority who are continuing to ignore the rules.
“We also have to thank the public for helping us by reporting Covid breaches to us. In the last month we received 2,480 calls relating to the pandemic. This is double the amount of calls we were receiving before this current lockdown. We need the public’s information to guide us and we have been clear as to what the consequences are.
“We are continuing to engage with the public but we are being more proactive in giving out the tickets where possible.
“We continue to share the public’s frustration that the small minority are still taking terrible risks.”