Coronavirus: Police list excuses given for breaking lockdown

Buying a pair of headphones and holding a photo shoot are among the reasons people have given for breaching coronavirus lockdown rules, Sussex Police has said.

Kent Police said it broke up a football match and discovered a barber who was about to cut someone’s hair.

The force said it had issued 993 fines for legislation breaches since 1 January.

Sussex Police said it issued 192 fixed penalty notices in a week.

Supt Julia Pope of Sussex Police said: “The majority of fines have been for those attending house parties, meeting up with friends and family indoors or travelling without a reasonable excuse”.

“We had to break up a second illegal gathering in Forest Row, despite the group being told last week that they were breaching Covid legislation.”

Kent officers visited the barber shop in Northfleet after reports from the public.

While they were speaking to a man at the shop, a customer called to say he was out the back waiting for a haircut.

The football match in Green Road, Dartford, involved more than 20 people who had got onto the pitch through a hole in the fence.

Sussex officers claim two men who travelled from London to Hove said they made the journey to buy a pair of headphones, while a woman said she had gone to Brighton from London for a photo shoot.

“Considering we have been in a pandemic for almost a year now, it’s completely unacceptable” said Supt Pope.

Assistant Chief Constable Claire Nix of Kent Police said: “Whilst it is encouraging that the rate of infection is falling and more people are being vaccinated, now is not the time to drop our guard and be complacent, we are not yet at the stage where lockdown can be relaxed.”