Ten students in Nottingham fined by police for breaking Covid-19 safety regulations
Ten students in Nottingham have been given fines by police for breaking Covid-19 safety regulations.
Officers were called to two separate addresses, Harrington Drive in Lenton on Friday night, and Illkeston Road in Lenton on Saturday night.
Police say the students claimed they were entitled to party because they had received negative Covid-19 test results.
Nottinghamshire Police Detective Superintendent Mike Allen said: "It has been a varied weekend. The vast majority of people, including students, have understood the very serious situation the city and county are currently in with infection numbers rapidly increasing on a daily basis in given areas of the city and county.
"People have by and large been following the rules and the city was relatively quiet as a result with people heeding the message to stay at home this weekend to stop the numbers rising.
"Others who did come out did tend to also follow rule of six and social distancing rules and we are grateful for those that are complying.
"However sadly there are still those people out there who think the rules simply don't apply to them. These reckless few risk spreading the virus. Therefore these people leave us with no option but to hand out fines as we have done this weekend.
"And worryingly some of those flouting the rules are of all ages and geographies despite all the warnings given to us all. We discovered some even hosting parties for being out of isolation and others hosting a birthday party. It defies logic of any kind."
A University of Nottingham spokesperson said: "We are deeply disappointed at the behaviour of this minority of students this weekend. This is unrepresentative of the wider university community which has been acting responsibly in following the rules, doing the right thing and helping to reduce the rate of transmission our city.
"The university will investigate breaches of the coronavirus restrictions, which are an offence under our student code of discipline, and there are serious consequences for any students who do not obey the rules, including disciplinary action, fines and campus sanctions – in addition to police fines.
"We are in constant communication with our staff and students asking them to continue to closely follow and adhere to Government guidelines and public health restrictions, to contain the spread of the virus and protect our university community."
A spokesperson for Nottingham Trent University said: “In line with all local residents, we asked our students to take immediate action this weekend to help stop the spread of Covid-19. This included keeping within households.
"Working alongside our partners at Nottinghamshire Police, we employed extra security patrols in the community as well as across our campuses to help ensure that this happened across the whole student community.
“We are proud that our students are a part of the local community and know that the vast majority of our students respect the guidelines and advice.
“All students are aware that any breach of government guidelines could lead to both fines from the police and swift disciplinary action from NTU that may include being excluded from their course.”
Nottingham City Council leader Cllr David Mellen said: "I am pleased that the vast majority of people appear to have been sensible and realised the Covid situation in Nottingham is extremely serious. I thank them for overwhelmingly doing the right thing this weekend.
"Where there were cases of behaviour in breach of Covid rules, our Community Protection Officers were on hand to support the police in keeping everyone safe, and I am grateful to them and the police for their efforts."