Six stung for £2,000 each in virus breach

SIX people from Hyndburn were fined more than £2,000 apiece during the Tier 3 restrictions as a result of directly breaching the rule regarding gatherings.

Lancashire’s Covid-19 experience has been among the worst in the country, with the country under some form of local or national restrictions for almost every day, week, and month since the first announcement in March 2020.

Alongside neighbours in Greater Manchester and Merseyside, the historic county has endured some of the most severe restrictions on daily life as a result of the severity of Covid-19 in the North West.

Every day since the original March 23 announcement last year - barring six weeks last summer after the first lockdown was lifted - Lancashire has been under restrictions stopping residents from doing everyday things.

From October 17, 2020 until the second national lockdown on November 5, Lancashire was in a Tier 3 local lockdown. Tier 3 then returned after the second lockdown was lifted on December 2, with it staying until the third national lockdown from January 6.

Under Tier 3 rules, people were told to stay at home and forbidden in law from meeting people from other households indoors or in private gardens, with the exception of support bubbles. But those rules were not obeyed by everybody in the county.

Cheryl Elliott took part in a gathering of two or more in a private dwelling down Church Street, Accrington, on October 28 last year, At the time, Accrington was under Tier 3 rules. Elliott, 28, also of Church Street, was ordered to pay £2,026.

Winnie Maughan, 48, hosted people at her home in Dunnyshop Avenue, Accrington, on December 22 last year while Tier 3 lockdown rules were active. She was ordered to pay £2,026.

Kathleen Maughan, 30, took part in a gathering at a property in Dunnyshop Avenue, Accrington, on December 21 during the Tier 3 lockdown. Maughan, of Norfolk Grove, Church, was ordered to pay £2,026.

Nineteen-year-old Terence Maughan, of Dunnyshop Avenue, Accrington, was slapped with a £2,026 bill after gathering in a property on Dunnyshop Avenue with others during the Tier 3 lockdown on December 21, 2020.

Dale Nuttall, 29, hosted people at his home in Hanson Street, Great Harwood, on December 5 last year. At the same time the town was under Tier 3 restrictions. Nuttall was ordered to pay £2,026.

Michaela Shorrock, 30, of Rutland Close, Clayton-le-Moors, was ordered to pay £2,026 after taking part in a gathering at a property in Rutland Close on October 17 during Tier 3 restrictions.