WHAT AN EXCUSE!
Some of the reasons people have given police for flouting lockdown
POLICE forces across Wales are continuously having to deal with people who are flouting coronavirus lockdown rules. From March 24, people living in the UK were instructed they could only leave home to exercise once a day, travel to and from work when it was “absolutely necessary”, shop for essential items and fulfil any medical or care needs. But while the vast majority obeyed the rules, many still breached the restrictions.
The restrictions then began to be relaxed and life started to return to some semblance of normality.
But a rise in cases in September, continuing into October, has seen some new restrictions, along with specific local lockdowns in some areas.
And that has led to some people breaching the rules once more. On Friday, South Wales Police said it was being called out on average 40 times a day to deal with potential breaches of coronavirus regulations.
The force detailed some of the incidents, including:
12 people at one address in Porth, Rhondda, where an illegal house party was taking place;
a motorist who travelled from Aberystwyth to Merthyr Tydfil to buy a van;
a Bridgend homeowner who was warned by officers for having visitors to her home. She was given an FPN after officers were called back the same evening and found people hiding in the garden;
a man who persistently travelled from Cardiff to Rhondda Cynon Taf to attend the licensed premises at which he is a regular.
a woman from Swansea who returned from a foreign holiday and returned to work the following day instead of self-isolating as required.
However, it’s not the only force in Wales which has dealt with coronavirus breach excuses.
Here are some of the most ridiculous excuses given to police in Wales since the start of lockdown:
Officers were left shocked after stopping three people in Pembrokeshire who claimed that they had no idea the country was in lockdown as they didn’t watch the news. The group claimed that they were dropping a friend home after a visit and had no idea what was going on in the country.
A driver was stopped and fined by police after he travelled by train from the south coast of England to West Wales to collect a camper van.
Officers from Dyfed-Powys Police were carrying out lockdown checks near the Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire border on Wednesday, April 29, when they stopped a motorhome on the A477 near Red Roses. When officers pulled the vehicle over, the driver explained he was on his way home – to Brighton.
According to the Pembrokeshire Roads Policing Team, the man had caught a train from Brighton in East Sussex to Tenby in Pembrokeshire to collect the motorhome. He was then in the process of driving it back home – a distance of more than 270 miles – when he was stopped.
Campers who drove from Hereford to Tenby for a night under the stars on the beach were fined for breaking lockdown rules, after getting themselves stuck.
On Thursday, April 30, officers from Dyfed-Powys Police in Tenby posted about the trip, which was deemed to be non-essential, on social media. An image of a car with its tyres seemingly stuck in sand was also shared. It was revealed that the occupants of the vehicle had travelled from Hereford to Tenby, a trip of around 120 miles, for a camping trip on the beach.
They removed signs blocking the entrance to the car park which said that it was closed. Once on the beach, they proceeded to get their vehicle stuck in the sand, taking up police time and costing them £430 in fines.
A young driver from Gloucester and her two passengers heading to the beach at Aberystwyth were sent home by police after the car was pulled over for having a noisy exhaust.
Officers in Ceredigion initially stopped the silver Ford Fiesta for having a loud exhaust but immediately realised the three occupants were not local. The female driver had driven from Gloucester and picked up two friends in Hereford on the way to the Ceredigion coast. All three were reported for breaching lockdown rules and were sent back home by police on Monday, April 27.
On the weekend of Saturday, September 26, officers from South Wales Police were called to a gathering at an Airbnb of more than 30 people.
The same weekend there was also a gathering of more than 100 people outside a student complex in the city.
Other visits by South Wales Police over that weekend included a party at a house in Cathays where more than 20 people were in attendance and an indoor party at a licensed premises in the Splott/Adamsdown area, where face masks were not being worn and social distancing rules were not being followed.
A couple who were stopped by police at 1am firstly told officers that they were going to collect rice from a friend but were betrayed by their boot full of fishing gear and sat-nav which had coordinates for Saundersfoot beach programmed into it.
Dyfed-Powys officers stopped people travelling from London, Luton, Bristol and Manchester to the region to buy or look at dogs. One man from Manchester responded to officers by telling them his pet “wouldn’t be a puppy any more” if he waited until lockdown was over.
A man stopped by police while driving in West Wales told officers he was a key worker, before admitting that he wasn’t and that he was in fact just out for a spin.
Another couple were left deflated after police stopped them from completing a 100-mile round trip to Pembrokeshire to collect a bouncy castle they had bought on Facebook. Officers issued the couple with fines and explained that this was not considered essential travel.