'You'll end up in court' warning to those ignoring Covid fines in Northamptonshire

Police say anyone ignoring Covid-19 fines in Northamptonshire will end up in court if they don't pay.

Officers issued 371 fixed penalty notices between March and September to people going out during lockdown, not wearing face coverings and gathering in large numbers.

Yet figures published yesterday revealed 207 of those — a whopping 56 per cent — were not paid within 28 days.

Response to the fines in Northamptonshire was at least better than the national average and nine forces where the number of non-payers topped 60 per cent.

And the news will not stop the local Force stepping up stepping up enforcement of the Covid-19 restrictions.

Superintendent Elliot Foskett, from Northamptonshire Police, said: “Once a Fixed Penalty Notice is issued for breaching Covid-19 legislation the individual has 28 days to raise any concerns about why it was issued or pay the fine.

“At the time of issuing the FPN Officers will have recorded their justifications for issuing an FPN, along with providing evidence to support any breaches of the regulations.

“Once a fine is contested or unpaid the case will proceed to court.

"Only British Transport Police have issued more fines around face coverings on public transport than Northamptonshire Police, so hopefully this gives some sense of the seriousness we place upon it.

"The message to those who decide willfully not to follow the legislation is that you can expect to have some action taken where we come across you. This does include enforcement on face coverings."

Northamptonshire Police last week announced it intends to issue a £10,000 "super fine" to organisers of a funeral attended by more than 150 people in Kettering earlier this month.

And a Northampton man became the first in the county to be sentenced for not wearing a face mask when he appeared at the town's Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Csaba Levente, of Semilong Road, was also convicted of assaulting a woman and breaking a body-worn camera in an incident at a Co-op store.

Supt Foskett added: "There are always people who will be prepared to gamble with other people's safety. They do it by drinking and then getting behind the wheel of a car.

"This is the same thing, it's not as immediate but if you got out and don't take a face covering or gather in numbers, then you are gambling with other peoples lives and we will take action against you.

"We have stepped up patrols across the county and poured more resources into it."

Among the variety of law-breakers recently:

■ A house party in Northampton this week saw six Fixed Penalty Notices issued.

■ Failing to wear face coverings on public transport and in shops — including one shopper who was fined twice in a matter of minutes after going into two shops without a mask.

■ Two males travelling all the way from Leeds to commit crime in the county were arrested and charged with theft — and with Coronavirus Act offences.

■ Beach of quarantine by people arriving in the UK after travelling to countries not on the Government's exemption list.

■ People failing to self-isolate and going out knowing they are Covid-positive and could potentially pass the virus on to someone more vulnerable.