You might think you are invincible .. you're not! That's why you must stay at home

Northamptonshire's police chief issued a stark warning to anybody thinking of ignoring the Government's stay-at-home plea: "You may think you're invincible .. but you're not!"

And Nick Adderley wants to reassure the county's public that his force is prepared for the coronavirus sweeping through their own ranks.

The no-nonsense Chief Constable and his men will be tasked with enforcing Prime Minister Boris Johnson's lockdown.

People are now only allowed to go out for essential shopping or exercise once a day but never in groups of more than two in a bid to slow the spread of the deadly Covid-19 bug.

Mr Adderley said: "The first thing i want to say is that Northamptonshire Police is still operating as normal.

"Yes we do have have a number of staff who are self-isolating and yes we have a number of staff showing symptoms and are now out of the work place.

"But we are still responding and reacting to those emergency calls and are still operating a full and effective service. That will continue for the foreseeable future and we we have a number of plans in place should that situation deteriorate."

The PM's shock announcement last night (Monday March 23) led to a flurry of speculation on how the restrictions on movement will be enforced.

And Mr Adderley added: "A number of members of the public have contacted us to ask how we're going to enforce some of the things that were mentioned by the PM.

"My first message and my real clear instruction is please abide by the information that has been given out. You must adhere to the conditions that have been imposed by the Government now. It is imperative.

"I know there are a number of people who don't believe that this is the case. I know that there are a a number of people who think that they are invincible and hey are not.

"I would urge and encourage you to please support us, please allow us to carry on dealing with those emergency calls and the less emergency calls by adhering to these conditions and restricting the movement of people so that this virus cannot spread any further than it already has.

"We will be enforcing the legislation that will be coming through by the end of the week and I know that people have been emailing us in lots of ways, contacting us saying, well, how are you going to do it? How are you going to know that people are going to be doing their first walk, their second walk or third walk?

"Look, please don't clog up our systems with all of that. Do go to the gov.uk website or to our own Northamptonshire Police website where you will find more information

"As the situation develops I will do more public addresses. But just to reassure you Northamptonshire Police is operating as normal.. Please help us to help you by adhering to the messages that have been given out by the Government."