Breaking lockdown risks roadmap, warns Cumbria Police
Cumbria Police found nearly four hundred people breaking coronavirus regulations in the Lake District this weekend, ranging from low level breaches to more serious offences. 90 people were found to be camping illegally.
In total, 120 fixed penalty fines were handed out by the Police last week, double the number from the week before. 79 of those were given over the weekend.
Areas of the Lake District that have seen very few visitors saw hundreds of people venturing out onto the fells. According to Cumbria Police the good weather and the announcement of the roadmap out of lockdown has encouraged people to be less inclined to comply with restrictions. However they are warning people not to "jump the gun", or risk a surge in cases that threatens lockdown easing.
Assistant Chief Constable Andrew Slattery told ITV Border, "The big concern here for us is that people have seen the roadmap, the very sensible roadmap over the next few months, and people are jumping ahead. This roadmap is reliant on people sticking to the regulations to drive the virus down, which then allows us to move to the next stage."
He continued, "some people are very apologetic, compliant. It's only when people are argumentative and refuse to comply with instructions, or for instance in some cases campers were moved on and then found several miles away camped up again, so that's where people end up with fixed penalty tickets.
"It's really important that we stick to the rules so we can get through this roadmap as quickly and safely as possible"
46 people died from Covid-19 in Cumbria in the week ending February 19th according to the Office for National Statistics. That's a drop of 30 per cent from the previous week when 66 people died.