Women fined for 120-mile trip to sleep at beauty spot in lockdown
The latest Covid-19 infection rates show that cases are continuing to fall in Suffolk. - Credit: Sarah Lucy Brown
Two women who left their separate households in London to sleep at a beauty spot are among those fined by police for Covid breaches.
Colchester Community Policing Team issued fines to the pair, aged 19 and 20, who embarked on a 120-mile round trip to spend the night sleeping in a car by Abberton Reservoir in freezing conditions.
An 18-year-old who travelled to meet his girlfriend for a lockdown coffee was also fined by police in the same week.
The teenager drove from West Mersea to Colchester and picked up his partner, from a different household, to keep him company.
The trip quickly turned expensive when Essex Police issued him with a fixed penalty notice for breaching Covid-19 rules.
Currently, people are only allowed to meet one person from another household outside and should not travel outside their local area unless absolutely necessary for work or in emergencies.
It comes after similar fines were issued in Suffolk and Norfolk, including a man who made a 128-mile round trip from Mildenhall to Scratby on the Norfolk coast for fish and chips.
Three people were fined by Suffolk police after reports of a 'gathering' and loud music playing at a house in Saxmundham.
And another Covid rule breaker travelled from Colchester to Norwich to deliver a birthday present.
Police forces in our area say if people are thinking about organising a social gathering or making a non-essential journey, "please reconsider, stay safe and stop the unnecessary spread of Covid-19".
Most Read
- 1 A12 reopens after air ambulance called to three-lorry crash
- 2 Suffolk campsite named among the best in the UK by the Guardian
- 3 Weather warning for Suffolk as thunderstorms expected to affect travel
- 4 'Like a Halloween scene' - huge caterpillar webs engulf hedges
- 5 Forbidden Suffolk: 6 places you can't visit in the county
- 6 Town take up option on Tyreece Simpson... plus two other youngsters update
- 7 Men convicted of kidnap and rape of Ipswich girl
- 8 New hair salon opens up with its very own puppy on the premises
- 9 Teenager arrested after six people injured on university campus
- 10 Baby Elsie in ship-shape despite dramatic birth in car at Sutton Hoo
"Our officers will continue to take a common-sense approach to the government’s regulations," police chiefs added.
"They will continue to engage with people, explain the regulations and encourage them to do the right thing.
"But, where reasoned conversation is not successful, we will consider enforcement action. We will continue to respond to clear and blatant breaches and, where they occur, work with our partners to resolve them."
Report Covid-19 breaches on your nearest police force website and check the latest rules here.