More than 9,000 people have been handed fined in England and Wales by police for breaking the coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Almost 400 of those fined are repeat offenders and one individual was fined six times, according to data from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC).
During this period, calls in relation to anti-social behaviour have more than doubled compared to the same period last year.
For the four weeks to 26 April, there were around 215,000 anti-social behaviour reports, compared with 106,000 in 2019, NPCC data showed.
Many of the calls related to concerns over gatherings, noise or trouble in homes.
In England, there were 8,877 fixed penalty notices issued between 27 March and 27 April, while in Wales there were 299.
Police have been issued with the powers to hand out a £60 penalty, reduced to £30 if paid within two weeks, for breaches of the lockdown rules. The fine is doubled for each repeat offence up to a £960 maximum.
Mr Hewitt said that, although most of the public were adhering to the restrictions, it would get harder as the weeks went on, “It is inevitable people will get restless,” he said, adding that there were signs last weekend that more people were “out and about”.
He said: “We would assess that over the weekend we sensed across the country a little bit more traffic on the roads and a few more people out and about,
“But having said all of that, we are still seeing the same level of compliance from people.”
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Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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