Police apologise for fining mother who had taken child to beach

POLICE have apologised after a woman was cautioned and issued with a fine for driving seven miles to take her young daughter for a walk on the beach.

The incident occurred as officers from Merseyside’s Covid-19 unit were patrolling the area around Crosby. The officers, who were being filmed by a local television news crew, were checking car number plates to ascertain where motorists had travelled from.

After establishing that the owner of one vehicle lived seven miles away, they approached her and asked what she was doing in the area.

The woman explained that she had finished work and was taking her young daughter for a walk on the beach. But despite the fact the law does not stipulate how far you are allowed to travel to take exercise, she was issued with a fixed penalty notice.

The officer could also be heard on camera cautioning the woman, which is not necessary as the breach is not an arrestable offence.

The incident took place on Jan 25, but last night Merseyside Police said it had apologised to the woman and said the fine had been withdrawn. A spokesman said the officer had changed his mind about issuing a ticket to the woman after he returned to the station.

The spokesman said: “On reflection he decided not to proceed with it as he felt that the words of advice that had been given to this lady were sufficient. As such, the lady will not have received a fine, and we are contacting her to inform her that this is why she won’t have received anything in the post. We would like to take this opportunity to apologise to her for not having advised her of this sooner.”

The force did not explain why the woman had been cautioned when she was issued with the fine. Last month, Derbyshire Police was forced to apologise after two women were issued with £200 fines after driving five miles to go for a socially distanced walk.

Last night, the Home Office said forces would receive an extra £60million to help increase enforcement.

It will also help to pay for the officers, who from Monday will be deployed in airports and ports to help apply the new travel regulations.