£16,000 of fines handed out at two parties in Scarborough
50 fixed penalty notices were given out across the Yorkshire Coast last week
Last updated 17th Mar 2021
Scarborough borough once again saw the highest number of fines handed out to lockdown rule breakers in the last week.
Fifty fixed penalty notices were issued by North Yorkshire Police on the coast, almost half the 102 issued across the county.
Two large gatherings in Scarborough racked up a combined £16,000 in fines as once again police were called to a number of parties.
However, the number of fines handed out by the police dropped considerably from the 210 issued a week earlier in North Yorkshire as the lockdown measures start to ease.
Superintendent Mike Walker said that complacency would not be allowed to set in.
He said: “Together with our partner agencies and the people of York and North Yorkshire, it is imperative that we maintain the collective effort to reduce the infection rate as low as possible while the vaccination programme is rolled-out across the population.
“We can all see that better times are on the horizon, that’s why we must keep going and not allow all the hard work and sacrifice to be undone through complacency.
“We all must keep adhering to the health protection regulations around travel and gatherings, maintaining social distance, wearing face coverings in shops and on public transport, and keeping our hands as clean as possible.
“From a policing point of view, we will continue to play our part in tackling the public health crisis as we head towards the Easter holidays.
“Each district is on with preparing patrol plans to ensure there are sufficient resources to provide reassurance and continue our ‘4 Es’ approach – to engage with the public, explain the regulations, encourage compliance, and enforce if there is no other way of dealing with breaches.
“The patrol plans will obviously reflect any changes in legislation post March 29 as part of the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown.
“When it is safe to do so, we will welcome visitors to the county again. However, everyone can expect to see an increased policing presence as we work alongside our partners to help keep the virus at bay in the weeks and months ahead.
“Also, we expect normal policing demand to increase as the regulations are further relaxed, therefore North Yorkshire Police will utilise the Government’s surge funding provided to ensure we can respond to the public as they would expect.”
Scarborough was one again the location for the most indoor gatherings including two separate parties in the town over the weekend consisting of more than 15 people which resulted in 20 £800 fines being issued.
One occurred at a flat in Pavilion Square following a report of a party at 10.45pm on Saturday.
Of the 102 fines handed out in North Yorkshire 54 were issued to local people and 48 were given to visitors.