Covid: Nottinghamshire Police issue 1,600 fines in four months

Nottinghamshire's police and crime commissioner said tolerance was "wearing thin"

A police force says it has issued more than 1,600 fines for coronavirus breaches in the past four months.

The figure is a sharp rise from the 160 penalties given out by Nottinghamshire Police in the first six months of restrictions from March to September.

The force said one individual was penalised five times in six days.

A total of 12 people were fined £10,000 for organising parties and there were 130 fixed penalty notices given out on New Year's Eve.

Of the 1,600 fines issued since the start of October, 80% have been to people under 30 and 62% have been to men.

There have also been 31 repeat offenders.

'Deep crisis'

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cooper told the Local Democracy Reporting Service when legislation first came in officers tried to engage, explain and encourage before issuing fines.

"We have moved on from the engagement and into enforcement much quicker," he said.

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New figures released by the National Police Chief's Council (NPCC) showed Nottinghamshire Police issued 157 fines per 100,000 people living in the local area between 27 March and 17 January - the fifth highest rate in England.

Nottinghamshire's police and crime commissioner Paddy Tipping said it was a small group of people who were not sticking to the rules.

"They're putting people at risk and tolerance is wearing a little thin," he said.

"We are now 10 months into the pandemic, and I know it's been a bit confusing at times, but people should know the rules by now.

"This is a deep crisis, and the view of the police, the home secretary and myself is that this is perhaps the hardest month and that we're going to enforce rather more vigorously than we have in the past."

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