Police urge people to celebrate safely

Leicestershire Police says they are reinforcing the message that people must follow the Coronavirus rules or they risk being fined.

In the last two weeks 37 fines have been issued to the total value of £23,500.

Two of these fines were £10,000 fines for holding gatherings for more than 30 people, as below:

The force says other fines issues relate to the following:

Two fines issued for failure to comply with reasonable instruction
Two fines issued for participating in indoor gathering
Two fines issued under Tier 3 - holding gathering of more than 30 persons in a private dwelling in Tier 3 area - £10,000 (as above)
Two fines issued under Tier 3 - gathering of two or more people in other public outdoor place in Tier 3 area
23 fines issued under Tier 3 - gathering of two or more people in private dwelling/indoors in a Tier 3 area
Four fines issued under Tier 3 - Person from a Tier 3 area participating in gathering of two or more people in other public outdoor place outside the area
Four fines issued for failing to self-isolate
In addition, 26 businesses were visited to check on Covid compliance and to offer advice.

Assistant Chief Constable Julia Debenham said: “The party in King Street is a perfect example of how some people are deliberately making the choice to ignore the rules. As we are now so near to the Christmas and New Year holidays we cannot tolerate this minority who are blatantly putting the safety of our communities at risk.

“The majority of the public have been and continue to be amazing and making the right choices throughout this pandemic. To have a small minority put so many people at risk is something we will continue to tackle and to use the legislation available to us.

“We have taken thousands of calls throughout this pandemic about breaches of the regulations. We will continue to respond to these incidents over the festive period. Our priority is to protect public safety. If people breach the regulations and put others at needless risk, they can expect to be fined.”