Wiltshire bar fined for hosting New Year's Eve party
A bar in Trowbridge has been fined £1,000 for breaking Covid rules on New Year's Eve.
Police visited the Trowbridge Sports Bar on Castle Street where they found a small group of people having a party.
It is the first fixed penalty notice handed out by Wiltshire Council.
The bar had already been given both written and verbal warnings for non-compliance with the pandemic guidance.
Evidence collected by police was then shared with the council who issued the fine under the coronavirus regulations for failing to close – as was required at the time as Wiltshire was in Tier 3.
The council spokesman added: “Our licensing team talks to businesses in the first instance to explain where they may have gone wrong.
“Then, if we have repeat offenders, we would issue fixed penalty notices, and only after that, in extreme cases, would we look to use other measures available to us. FPNs and further measures are by no means the first course of action.”
Leader of the council, Philip Whitehead said: “Of course issuing fixed penalty notices to Wiltshire businesses for breaches of Covid legislation is not something we want to do, and it is a last resort.
Credit: Matthew McLaughlin, Local Democracy Reporting Service.
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