Covid: Nearly £30,000 in fines handed out after illegal gathering discovered at Birmingham shisha lounge

• WATCH: Police discover 'illegal' lockdown gathering

West Midlands Police have handed out nearly £30,000 in Covid fines after discovering an illegal gathering at a pop-up shisha lounge in Birmingham this weekend.

Officers say they found 36 people “crammed” above a shop in Sparkbrook on Saturday night (6th Feb).

They say the floor had been converted into an open plan shisha lounge, with beer and soft drinks on offer, card games being played and football on the TV.

The 36 were each handed one of the new £800 fines, which were recently introduced to punish those who go to gatherings of more than 15 people.

• Covid fines: who's getting them, where is issuing the most, and what for?

ACC Mark Payne said: "Sadly some people are still not getting the message that we are in a pandemic which has killed thousands of people, and continues to kill hundreds daily."

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