Northants Police issue 114 tickets under new coronavirus laws... but haven't 'searched a single shopping basket'

The Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police has confirmed that 114 fines have been issued to people in the county since the new emergency Covid-19 legislation was brought into force last month.

One fine was issued to a man repeatedly visiting his girlfriend, another was given to a group who should not have been together hanging around a car park. A couple driving around a housing estate and a man being abusive towards station staff were also given £60 fines.

In an online question and answer session, top police officers have been answering questions this afternoon about the way in which the force is dealing with the new laws which allow police forces to fine social distancing flouters on the spot.

Chief Constable Nick Adderley faced a barrage of criticism earlier this month after he appeared to tell television reporters that his officers would be searching shopping baskets to check that people would be buying essential items only. He later clarified that he had not meant that and that his language had been clumsy.

Today, he said that the number of fines issued so far was 'quite proportionate'.

"Not one single shopping trolley, not one basket has been searched. Not one roadblock has been set up," he said.

But he added that people should be careful about going to the newly-reopened B&Q stores across our county, adding: "If you're making a journey to buy pot paint for DIY. or fence panels, that's not an essential journey to buy those items.

"If we have people going shopping for double-glazed windows, doing a 200-mile round-trip, that's the kind of thing we're interested in. If people are travelling an 80-mile round trip to buy fence panels, that's not essential. That's the kind of thing you're likely to get questioned about. My advice is don't do it.

"The force will start off with education and engagement.

"We don't want to give tickets out. I don't want a heavy-handed response. People make up all these scenarios that we are going to drive up, screech to a halt and start slapping tickets on people.

"That's not how we operate here in Northamptonshire."

Superintendent Elliot Foskett said that every fine that had been issued had been checked by his office to ensure it was lawful, but that the police didn't want to hear from people trying to 'police their neighbours' who had perhaps been seen going out for a walk twice in a day because they were dealing with more serious offences.

He said: "Every time somebody is issued with a fine it comes into our office and we look through these and if we think any have been issued in error we're proactive in dealing with that and make sure we are learning from it."

Superintendent Sarah Johnson said that it was difficult to watch most people going to great lengths to observe the rules while a few others deliberately flout them. She said: "When we stop them they know why. They sometimes have been stopped previously. We don't want to give people fixed penalties, they leave us no choice. It ties officers up and it issues them with a fine and really a lot of these cases have not been for serious and essential things.

"They're just people choosing not to follow these rules and it's quite challenging for us to rationalise when I know that some people are really, really doing brilliant and amazing things to keep spaces safe and clear. If can be quite challenging to see other people choosing, for trivial reasons, to break these rules and expose other people to risk."

The force also confirmed that it is fine to wash your car on your own drive after people asked the question on social media.