Car parks at Swansea beaches closed down

CAR parks at three popular Swansea beaches were closed yesterday following a request by police.

Swansea council confirmed that the car parks at Bracelet Bay, Langland Bay and Caswell would be shut after people headed to beauty spots across Wales on the sunniest weekend of the year so far.

While temperatures didn’t exceed much beyond 10°C, according to the Met Office, the welcome reprieve from wintry weather meant many decided to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

Swansea council urged people not to travel for their daily exercise.

In a statement, the council said: “We’re closing beach car parks today at Bracelet Bay, Langland Bay and Caswell at the request of South Wales Police. So please don’t travel.

“We know it’s great weather out there but Welsh Government rules mean we should not drive to any location for daily exercise. Please do the right thing to keep us all safe.”

Under Alert Level 4 restrictions, people in Wales must stay at home except for very limited purposes.

People are permitted to meet to exercise with members of their household or support bubble, or with people from one other household as long as the total number of people exercising is no more than four.

There are no legal limits on the kind of exercise that is permitted but exercise should start and finish from a person’s home, the Welsh Government has said.

South Wales Police confirmed that “numerous” reports had been received of crowds gathering at beaches across Swansea Bay over the weekend.

Officers have also been carrying out random vehicle checks across the city this weekend to check the reasons why people are travelling.