Police have been accused of failing to stop dozens of ‘travellers’ who broke lockdown rules to ‘attend a wake’ on a static caravan site.
Onlookers said 100 police swooped on the scene in Seven Sisters, London, in 15 vans last night – but locals claim very little was done to break up the celebration, which was attended by around 70 people.
Police said 42 people were ‘reported for consideration of a fixed penalty notice’ but are yet to confirm if anyone was arrested.
This comes as the Home Office issued a video warning Covid rule breakers they ‘can’t be chillin’ and police forces up and down the country hand out hundreds of fines a day.
Scotland Yard Deputy Commissioner Sir Steve House yesterday revealed the extent of the crackdown as it emerged that officers are doling out 66 times more fines every day than during the first lockdown.
In the past week, revellers have been caught enjoying house parties, a pub lock-in, an evening at a shisha bar, and snowball fights.
People have also been fined for travelling across the country to go surfing and for being pampered in a nail bar.
One force said it was issuing ‘so many fines at the minute to people who just don’t seem to care,’ adding, ‘Is having your nails done really that important?’.
Officers were called to Star Nails in Stockwell Head, Hinkley, Leicestershire, where they found women being pampered
Police approached a woman sat on a park bench and asked her to move as they patrolled Hyde Park today
Police patrol Hyde Park in central London this morning – as the Met urges people to stick to the rules
Staggering footage released today captured the moment officers found 29 people enjoying an evening in a shisha bar.
The Metropolitan Police bodycam video shows officers bust open the bar, which was operating out of a unit on an industrial estate in Southall, west London.
Scotland Yard said: ‘Officers were called to the unit following concern from members of the public and after arriving on scene, found 29 people inside, one of whom tried to run out of the unit as police entered.
‘The gathering was not only a potential breeding ground for the virus, but the poor management of the shisha pipes inside presented a fire hazard.
‘The owner of the property has been reported for consideration of a fixed penalty notice, police continue to monitor the area for additional breaches.’
The Met has now issued a warning to people to abide by lockdown rules over the weekend or face hefty fines.
The force said officers would be ‘responding swiftly to reckless breaches’ such as house parties, unlicensed music events or other dangerous gatherings.
When the restrictions were first announced, the Metropolitan Police dished out 4.5 fines a day on average between March 27 and April 13.
In comparison, more than 300 people a day are now getting fixed penalty notices, with almost 4,000 penalties handed out so far in London.
In Leicestershire meanwhile, two women have been fined £200 each for flouting lockdown rules after they were caught getting nail treatments at a beauty salon.
Officers were called to Star Nails in Stockwell Head, Hinkley, where they found two customers inside being pampered by staff.
Three friends from Oxfordshire who drove 21 miles to visit the Cotswold town of Stow on the Wold in breach of lockdown have also been fined £200 each by police.
Cotswolds Police tweeted last night: ‘Officers stated that they had no reasonable excuse to be in a car together so far from home.’
The incident comes after more than 50 tourists were spoken to by police in the North Cotswolds on Sunday and many were told to go home.
In Nottinghamshire, pub owners, staff and four customers have been fined after the venue was found serving alcohol inside.
Staggering footage released today captured the moment officers found 29 people enjoying an evening in a shisha bar in London
The car park at National Trust site Selsley Common in Stroud, Gloucestershire, was packed today
Walkers gathered on Primrose Hill in North London this afternoon
Officers asked a woman to move on as she sat on a bench in London this morning
Police visited The Plough Inn in Cropwell Butler on January 13 to find four people sat around a table drinking and watching television with a member of staff.
Environmental Health and licensing officers have now served its owners a fixed penalty notice of £1,000 and police have issued £200 fines to all customers and the three owners and staff present at the time of the breach.
The business has been closed and also received a prohibition notice ensuring it cannot allow individuals to enter the premises to consume food or drink.
Devon police, meanwhile, have slammed a group who travelled from London to Woolacombe on Thursday in a camper van to go surfing.
A police spokesman said today: ‘Beggar’s belief – despite all the messaging-a campervan load travelled down from London last night as they fancied a surf.
‘Tickets given and turned back. Vast majority are following the guidance – to the minority blatantly breaching – we are out and about.’
Locals were furious at the lockdown flouters for putting them in danger.
One resident said on social media: ‘Don’t fine them – no point – take their license away or impound their vehicle.’
Another added: ‘And there’s me worried about driving to Woolacombe from Ilfracombe…makes my blood boil.’
Another said: ‘Thank you police for being so vigilant and turning back these utter morons.
‘It is the minority that are blatantly defying the Government guidelines and keeping the lockdowns and this virus going.’
Scotland Yard Deputy Commissioner Sir Steve House said officers were ‘accelerating more quickly’ to enforcement rather than listening to excuses from Covid rule breakers this time around.
‘We have seen a significant increase in the amount of fixed penalty notices that were issued,’ he said.
‘The number is increasing quite rapidly day on day. I wish it weren’t so. I wish everybody was abiding by the regulations.’
Between March 27 and December 20, the force handed out 1,761 penalties for breaking the rules, including for being outside home without a reasonable excuse, not wearing a mask or organising a mass gathering.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has told police they can question people if they find them sitting on park benches.
Met Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick has ordered officers to take a more hardline approach during this lockdown, saying it is ‘preposterous’ to suggest that the public would be unaware of the need to follow the rules.
Yesterday her deputy said it was clear the public were not taking the rules as seriously this time around and the police had been asked by the Government to step up enforcement.
Others were seen on skis and snowboards as snow settled in West Yorkshire on Thursday
Sir Steve described his frustration at anti-lockdown protests, citing a demonstration in Clapham, south London, last week where protesters were heckled by the public.
‘As they were walking down Clapham High Street members of the public who were legitimately out started shouting at them and telling them they were a bunch of idiots,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with that view.’
He also told the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee that his officers urgently needed vaccines and the force were happy to vaccinate their own officers and staff.
Around 1,700 Metropolitan Police staff are off sick or self-isolating.