Over 1,000 Covid-19 fines issued in North Yorkshire since third lockdown

More than a thousand fines relating to Covid-19 breaches have been issued in total across North Yorkshire since the third lockdown.

Author: Karen LiuPublished 25th Feb 2021

More than a thousand fines relating to Covid-19 breaches have been issued in total across North Yorkshire since the third lockdown.

The county's police is asking the public to keep sticking to the rules to protect their chances of moving out of lockdown.

The force is also confirming that it will keep up its 'four e's' approach.

Here are the total number of fines issued since Tuesday 16th of February:

North Yorkshire Police say:

  • 52% of FPNs issued over the week to visitors to North Yorkshire and City of York
  • 63% of all tickets issued in Scarborough Borough to visitors
  • 100% of tickets issued in Craven to visitors
  • 59% for being outside of place or living without a reasonable excuse

Commenting on the figures Chief Inspector Charlotte Bloxham, deputy lead for the force’s COVID-19 response said:

“As we expected, half term proved to be the busiest week we have experienced so far in enforcement terms, with 191 FPNs being issued across the seven days. Over half of the tickets issued were to visitors to the county and the majority for being outdoors without a reasonable excuse.

“Earlier this week we heard from the Prime Minister on the Government’s road map for leaving lockdown. I know we’re all eagerly awaiting life to return to normal and being reunited with our loved ones, but the Prime Minister did make one thing clear, the path out of lockdown was going to be led by data and not dates. The four steps he outlined to 21 June would only be taken if certain criteria were met – one of which was around the NHS being able to cope with the level of demand placed up on it and another the risk associated with new emerging variants of the virus.

“So, it’s really important that we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves and through irresponsible actions, jeopardise the progress we have made and need to keep making, to enable us all to move forward.

“Until the Government indicates that it is safe to move to the next stage of the road map on the 29 March, the current lockdown rules and regulations will stay in place and North Yorkshire Police will continue to police them. We will take the necessary enforcement action required to protect the green shoots of recovery we are starting to see and to protect all our chances of getting out of lockdown.

“So I would ask the public to keep going. We are on the right path and we are doing the right things, but we must remain vigilant to the threat of the virus. Covid-19 has not gone away, please carry on sticking to the rules, so we can continue to move towards better times ahead.”

Here is the breakdown of the number of fines issued since the third lockdown started on the 6th of January 2021:

  • 2,910 FPNs issued in total since beginning of pandemic in 2020