‘Heavy-handed’ £10,000 fines go unpaid

Tory MP is not surprised only six out of the 285 fines issued over large gatherings have been paid

MORE £10,000 fines for breaches of coronavirus rules have been withdrawn by police than have been paid in full, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

Police have rescinded nine of the 285 maximum fixed penalty notices issued in England and Wales since Aug 28. Yet only six of the £10,000 fines have been paid in full, one of which was paid in the past month.

The fines, introduced last summer by the Home Office, apply to those who have helped organise gatherings of 30 people or more.

Those issued with fines included two men involved in organising a mass snowball fight in Leeds on Jan 14, and the anti-lockdown activist Piers Corbyn, brother of the former Labour leader, who helped stage a protest in Trafalgar Square.

Sir r Desmond Swayne, the Conserva Conservative backbench MP who has frequently criticised cised the lockdown measures, said he was “not surprised” that people ple were not paying the fines. He told The Telegraph: “The £10,000 fines are very heavy-handed and in principle I’m opposed to the Government taking away our liberties and fining us if we are in breach of the regulations.

“That people are not paying these fines does not surprise me. Many struggle to put their hand to £100 beyond their monthly expenses, so it doesn’t surprise me if they don’t have several thousands to part with for a fine,” he added.

At least £930,000 worth of coronavi coronavirus fines have gone unpaid, according to information obtained from more than a third of the

police forces in England and Wales. This figure is likely to be far higher as the remaining 28 police forces declined to provide information. Meanwhile, Bob Blackman, a Tory MP, lambasted the fines as “draconian and ineffective”.

Mr Blackman said: “It is clear that these only serve to punish people whose finances are already stretched to their limits.

“In these uncertain economic times, when some people’s livelihoods have been destroyed, they do not have the means to settle the th fine in full.

“Many will find it impossible to pay and as such, people peop are re being set up to fail by the issuing of these hese notices.”

West Midlands Police ice accounted for the most unpaid £10,000 fines of forces that provided details.

It issued 22 such fines up until Feb 1, but not a single one has been paid in full.

West Yorkshire Police have withdrawn the most fines, having rescinded four fixed penalty notices up until Jan 24. The force said that this was due to insufficient evidence that the people who were given the penalties were actually involved in organising or holding the gatherings.

Only one of the 15 £10,000 , 00 penalties issued by Leicestershire Constabulary has been fully paid, as have two of the 17 given out by West Yorkshire Police.

The fines have functioned largely as a deterrent during the pandemic and are being used by police as a last resort.

For the majority of fines that have not been paid in full, it is believed this is because it is such a large amount for most people to pay on the spot.

Instalments can be arranged with magistrates where it is not possible for somebody who has been given a fine to immediately pay the whole amount.

This takes place in a similar manner to other fines, where courts discuss whether a payment schedule can be set up for those who cannot pay, at the

discretion of the courts.