Sunbathers told to go home by cops for flouting lockdown
Police warn rulebreakers at parks and gardens
Police were forced to break up crowds and dish out coronavirus tickets in a sun-soaked Paisley.
Officers had to move on sunbathers in Barshaw Park and Ferguslie Gardens on Saturday as they tried to keep people safe from the Covid-19 pandemic and protect the NHS.
It’s understood they also broke up a group of around 20 people gathered in Barshaw Park.
Three teenagers were issued fixed penalty notices in Seedhill Playing Fields at around 8.30pm on Saturday after a group of youths tried to run away from police.
Later the same night four other people were given tickets in Ladyburn Street after police on patrol came across a small street party.
A Po l i c e Scotland spokeswoman said: “As always our approach is to engage, encourage and explain rather than resorting to enforcement measures such as issuing a ticket.
“This approach has proved to be very successful but, unfortunately, we have seen a consistent level of non- compliance by a small minority who seem intent on wilfully disobeying the regulations, as opposed to just not understanding what they should be doing.
“We have tried to address this by ensuring the individuals involved knew what the legal requirements are, engaged with them positively and only if they continued to refuse to comply with the regulations – despite the advice they had been given – would we move to enforcement as a last resort.
“In an very small number of cases fixed penalty notices were issued.”
Police Scotland have been given emergency powers to enforce strict lockdown rules designed to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Officers have been carrying out high profile patrols through parks across the county in a bid to deter people from breaking the rules.
Car parks at all Renfrewshire parks and beauty spots have been closed.
The force insists the vast majority of people are complying with the rules of social distancing and praised members of the public for their cooperation.