How many Covid fines since start?

POLICE in Staffordshire handed out more than 360 fines to people caught breaking Covid rules during the first nine months of the pandemic.

Officers from Staffordshire Police handed out a total of 382 fixed penalty notices, Leicestershire Police was even higher at 618, Derbyshire gave out 301 and Lincolnshire Police handed out 367 during the same time frame.

Derbyshire police have been under fire for being “heavy handed” in applying the rules during the current third national lockdown, but figures showed it handed out fewer fines than many.

Derbyshire recorded one of the lowest number of fines out of all regional police forces in England, according to data from the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC).

It shows Derbyshire police gave out just 301 fixed penalty notices (FPNS) between March 27, when emergency health regulations came into effect, and December 20 last year.

This includes a number of high-profile incidents such as two students being fined for hosting house parties and a London camper who was given an FPN after refusing to leave Derbyshire during lockdown.

Of these, 254 came from people breaking regional lockdown rules, while 20 came from those flouting rules in place during national lockdowns.

Two people were fined for holding gatherings of more than 30 people, while one person was fined for ignoring international travel regulations and three for breaching business regulations.

This is a lower total than other Midlands forces, with Nottinghamshire Police fining a total of 906 people, more than three times as many.

A spokesman for Derbyshire Constabulary said fining people had been a “last resort”, with the focus instead on educating people during the coronavirus pandemic. “From March our clear approach has been to engage with our communities and through education help everyone play their part in helping stop the spread of coronavirus,” he said. Further afield, the City of London Police fined the fewest people in England, issuing 86 FPNS, and Northumbria Police issued the most 3,034 fines

The NPCC says at total of 28,744 fines have been handed out in England.

Derbyshire police were criticised for fining two women who travelled less than eight miles to Foremark Reservoir, near Repton, to take a socially distanced walk. They had travelled in separate cars, walked apart and were stunned when police approached them and hit them with £200 Covid fine each.

The incident made national headlines and even led to criticism from the force’s own police and crime commissioner Hardyal Dhindsa, who said officers had been “overzealous”. The women later had their fines withdrawn and were issued with an apology.