Parents fined £200 after children ‘continually’ breach COVID rules
The parents of two children who continually breached lockdown rules have been issued with £200 COVID fines by police.
The pair, aged 12 and 16, were repeatedly reported for lockdown breaches and antisocial behaviour in the Brambles Farm and Netherfields areas of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire.
The fines were issued by the Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Policing Team after their parents, who had been previously spoken to about their children's antisocial behaviour, failed to prevent it from happening again.
Following warnings from the community team that fines would follow there were further incidents - including causing issues for the Fire Brigade as they attempted to deal with two abandoned cars on fire in a residential street, and antisocial behaviour at a parade of shops.
Watch: What you can and can't do during UK's third lockdown
A spokeswoman for Cleveland Police told Yahoo News UK tht the fines wer a result of failing to ensure that the children were compliant with current regulations, despite the previous warning.
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Inspector Vas Khan, from Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Team, said in a statement: “We don’t want to have to issue people with fines, however, where behaviour continues to flout regulations and put people at risk, we have no other option but to take enforcement action.
“We would like to ask parents, please speak with your children and explain the risks to themselves, their friends, their family and anyone they may come into contact with. Where we identify youths involved in this kind of behaviour, we will take action to stop it.
“Our primary aim throughout the pandemic has been to engage with people and encourage them to follow the rules, but we are in lockdown with high infection rates in Middlesbrough. Whilst we’re sympathetic to the current situation, breaching the COVID rules causes great risk to people’s health and we will issue fines.”
In November the parents of children who broke lockdown rules by throwing eggs and attending a Hallowe'en party in Cardiff, Wales, were fined by police.
South Wales Police said fixed penalty notices were issued to parents for the covid breaches and anti-social behaviour in the St Mellons area.
A number of parents were also fined when their children attended a party the same weekend in nearby Neath Port Talbot. Calls to the force spiked at 1,500 on Saturday and 30 fines were issued in just one weekend.
And in February, 14 adults were fined a total of £11,200 for attending a children's birthday party in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire.
Watch: What UK government COVID-19 support is available?
