Scarborough Borough continues to be North Yorkshire hotspot for fines

Scarborough Borough continues to be the North Yorkshire hotspot for fines for Covid-19 lockdown breaches.

Author: Local Democracy Reporter, Carl GavaghanPublished 3rd Feb 2021

Scarborough Borough continues to be the North Yorkshire hotspot for fines for Covid-19 lockdown breaches with police warning that more officers will be deployed in the county to catch rule-breakers.

In the last week, 55 fixed penalty notices were issued in Scarborough, an increase of 23 on the previous seven days.

Across the county the number jumped to 143 compared to 87 previously.

York accounted for 45 of the fines meaning it and Scarborough were responsible for 70% of all the fines issued in North Yorkshire.

More than half of the fines issued were to people being away from their home without a reason and 62 were for illegal indoor gatherings.

Local residents were given 86 fines and visitors to the region 57.

More than half the fines issued for illegal indoor gatherings and parties during the latest coronavirus lockdown in North Yorkshire have been handed out in Scarborough.

Superintendent Mike Walker, North Yorkshire Police lead for the force’s Covid-19 response, said it was “frustrating” that people continued to flout the rules.

Speaking at a meeting of North Yorkshire’s Local Resilience Forum this morning, he said:

“Due to the continual Covid breaches which cleary put the safety of the public at risk we are going to respond by deploying more dedicated resources to support the enforcement activity.

“The public can expect to see more recources across communities, the public can have the confidence to report Covid breaches via our website and we will risk assess those reports and deploy resources in response.”

North Yorkshire Police has issued more than 400 fixed penalty notices since the latest lockdown began on January 4.

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