Youths break in to play football at leisure centre
PARENTS TICKED OFF AS CORONAVIRUS REGULATIONS BREACHED
POLICE say they were left “horrified” to find a large group of youths had broken into a Derbyshire leisure centre to play football.
Officers from Etwall, Hatton and Hilton Police Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) were called to Etwall Leisure Centre on Sunday after reports about the group.
When police arrived at around 1.05pm, the group of 15 to 20 people split up and ran away, leaving behind litter, clothing and other items.
Officers say the group had “forcibly” made its way onto the locked football pitches at the site, breaching Covid lockdown rules in the process.
Police say they know the identities of some of the people who were there and as a result their parents will be getting a Covid fine.
In a post on Facebook, Etwall, Hatton and Hilton Police SNT said the behaviour on display was “simply not acceptable”.
It said: “This is a message to parents - Do you know where your kids are? Do you know what they are getting up to?
“It is of the upmost importance that you ensure your children are following the rules and regulations for Covid-19. If a child breaches the rules then as their guardian, you will be held responsible for paying the fine.
“This may seem harsh, but we need to ensure these rules are being followed so that one day in the not too distant future, we can be lift the restrictions and start getting back to a state of normality. A gathering of 20 is simply not acceptable and quite frankly irresponsible in the times we are all living through. Officers were also disgusted by the onslaught of rubbish that was just discarded about the place.”
Anyone with information about the people who were there is asked to contact Derbyshire police on 101 using the incident reference 421 of February 21.