Visitors to Yorkshire Coast responsible for most half-term lockdown fines

The latest figures released by police show that 63 per cent of all fines handed out in the borough during the seven days from February 16 were to people from outside the area.

And once again, Scarborough had more fines handed out than anywhere else in North Yorkshire.

Of the 60 fixed penalty notices issued in that week, 38 were given to visitors and 22 to residents.

Police issued 46 fines for being out without a reasonable excuse, 13 for indoor gatherings and one for an outdoor gathering.

Chief Inspector Charlotte Bloxham, deputy lead for North Yorkshire Police’s Covid-19 response, said the situation during that week was reflected across the county.

“As we expected, half-term proved to be the busiest week we have experienced so far in enforcement terms, with 191 fixed penalty notices being issued across the seven days,” she said.

“Over half of the tickets issued were to visitors to the county and the majority for being outdoors without a reasonable excuse.

“I know we’re all eagerly awaiting life to return to normal and being reunited with our loved ones, but the Prime Minister did make one thing clear - the path out of lockdown was going to be led by data and not dates.

“The four steps he outlined to June 21 would only be taken if certain criteria were met – one of which was around the NHS being able to cope with the level of demand placed up on it and another the risk associated with new emerging variants of the virus.

“So, it’s really important that we don’t get too far ahead of ourselves and through irresponsible actions, jeopardise the progress we have made and need to keep making, to enable us all to move forward.

“Until the Government indicates that it is safe to move to the next stage of the road map on March 29, the current lockdown rules and regulations will stay in place and North Yorkshire Police will continue to police them.

“We will take the necessary enforcement action required to protect the green shoots of recovery we are starting to see and to protect all our chances of getting out of lockdown.

“So I would ask the public to keep going. We are on the right path and we are doing the right things, but we must remain vigilant to the threat of the virus.

“Covid-19 has not gone away, please carry on sticking to the rules, so we can continue to move towards better times ahead.”

North Yorkshire Police has handed out 1,017 fines since the third national lockdown began in January.

Of those, 393 were to people in the Scarborough borough - the highest number of any district in North Yorkshire.

That figure consists of 257 fines for Scarborough residents and 136 for visitors.

Most fines in the borough have been issued for rule-breaking indoor gatherings.