Covid: Blackburn shisha cafe customers fined for 'blatant' breach

Blackburn has been subject to additional Covid-19 measures for months

Twenty-three people have been fined for a "blatant breach" of Covid-19 rules after police raided a shisha cafe.

Lancashire Police said the cafe's customers were all fined £200 after officers found them at the premises on Darwen Street in Blackburn on Saturday.

Sgt Steve Dundon said they needed "to have a good think" about their "selfish behaviour" and the cafe's owners could "expect further consequences".

The town currently has England's second highest rate of coronavirus cases.

Latest government figures showed Blackburn with Darwen, which has been subject to strict Covid-19 measures since July, had a rate of 716.8 cases per 100,000 people on 5 November.

Sgt Dundon said it was "really disappointing to find that some people are still not getting the seriousness of the situation we are all in".

"This kind of selfish behaviour is doing nothing to help prevent the spread of this disease," he added.