Covid: Swindon pair who travelled to Tewkesbury fined

Gloucestershire Constabulary's chief constable said the pair travelling from Swindon to Tewkesbury was a "flagrant breach"

Two people who made a nearly 90-mile round trip to deliver a birthday card to a friend were fined by police for breaking coronavirus rules.

Gloucestershire Constabulary's chief constable Rod Hansen said the pair travelled from Swindon, Wiltshire, to Tewkesbury in a "flagrant breach".

He said there has been a "significant rise" in fines being issued for rule breaches since last month.

But Mr Hansen said they were still being committed by a minority.

Speaking on a Gloucestershire Live Facebook webchat, Mr Hansen said other breaches included a person being warned after they travelled 130 miles under the support bubble exemption.

While three other people from different households were fined after they refused to separate from each other in a car in Cheltenham, he said.

Mr Hansen said Gloucestershire officers have issued about 400 fines since March, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

But 172 of those have been issued since the start of the current lockdown - which started on 6 January - to 2 February.

"It is so easy to latch onto the headlines of the individuals we stop and fine for almost unbelievable stories about why they would do that, so late into the Covid pandemic.

"But it is a minority of people and generally there is a great spirit in [Gloucestershire]", Mr Hansen said.