Scarborough borough remains top for rule breaker lockdown fines

Police in the borough issued 72 fixed penalty notices to rule breakers between March 15 and 21.

That is more fines than anywhere else in North Yorkshire and nearly twice as high as in York - the second highest fines area - where 38 were handed out.

A total of 149 fixed penalty notices were handed out across North Yorkshire during that week. The previous week's total was 102.

Of those, 71 were issued to North Yorkshire residents and 78 to visitors.

Police issued 63 fines for being outside a place of living, four for outdoor gatherings and 81 for indoor gatherings.

During the third lockdown, North Yorkshire Police have issued 1,811 fixed penalty notices. Since the first lockdown in March 2020, they have handed out 3,704 fines.

As reported by The Scarborough News yesterday, three people tried to hide in a garden shed when police broke up a birthday party in Eastfield.

Officers were called to the gathering in the early hours of Sunday where they found a group celebrating a woman’s 20th birthday.

Seven people were fined for breaking lockdown rules.

Police also handed out fines at Filey Country Park after finding a group of four men from Bradford there at 11.15pm on Saturday who were planning to have a bonfire and drink beer.

Also at the park on the same night was a Ford Fiesta in the car park with a young couple inside who were on a 150-mile round trip from Gainsborough in North Lincolnshire.

And officers at Filey Country Park that night spoke to a man from Doncaster who was in a Ducati campervan and said he had drunk a glass of wine so could not drive home.

Superintendent Mike Walker, who is leading North Yorkshire Police’s response to the pandemic, said their patrols will reflect any changes in legislation after March 29, when the next step of the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown is agreed.

“We will be able to communicate these changes and our approach once the new health protection regulations have been confirmed,” he said.

“When it is safe to do so, we will welcome visitors to the county again.

“However, everyone can expect to see an increased policing presence as we work alongside our partners to help keep the virus at bay in the weeks and months ahead.

“Also, we expect normal policing demand to increase as the regulations are further relaxed, therefore North Yorkshire Police will utilise the Government’s surge funding provided to ensure we can respond to the public as they would expect.”