Police caught eating in cafe fined over lockdown breach
NINE police officers who were photographed eating together in a café have been fined for breaking lockdown rules.
They will each have to pay a £200 fixed penalty charge after they were spotted sitting in The Chef House Kitchen in Greenwich, south-east London, when customers were banned from dining inside restaurants.
The incident came to light when a member of the public posted pictures of the breach online earlier this month.
Brian Jennings, 44, an IT manager, said that he had taken the action because he disapproved of the officers’ behaviour.
He added: “I find the continued flouting of social distancing and lockdown regulations by the police hypocritical and foolish at this time when the infection rates in Greenwich borough are among the highest in the UK. ”
Chief Supt Rob Atkin said: “Police officers are tasked with enforcing the legislation that has been introduced to stop the spread of the virus and the public rightly expect that they will set an example through their own actions. It is disappointing that on this occasion, these officers have fallen short of that expectation.
“It is right that they will pay a financial penalty and that they will be asked to reflect on their choices.”
Meanwhile, Sir Alistair Graham, former chairman of the committee on standards in public life, has condemned the actions of a group of politicians who drank wine in the Welsh parliament building days after a pub alcohol ban had come into force.
He said: “I think the public hate hypocrisy. They hate being told to abide by the rules by all the politicians and then suddenly they find examples of where it looks like the rules may have been broken.”