Gloucestershire police had no time for excuses including visiting friends, seeing a girlfriend and heading for a takeaway with a large group in the car as they continued to ensure people stay home and protect the NHS
Nine more fines have been handed out by Gloucestershire police to people who continue to break lockdown measures.
With officer patrolling key routes and spot checks being carried out across the county, police had no time for excuses from people travelling for non-essential reasons.
Excuses included visiting friends, seeing a girlfriend and heading for a takeaway with a large group in the car.
Among those stopped by officers were two men who had travelled from Swindon to Matson in Gloucester to buy a car.
Shortly after buying the vehicle, the driver of the new car crashed into a garden in Matson as he headed home.
Nobody was injured and officers issued them both with £60 fines – which is lowered to £30 if paid within 14 days.
Inspector Dan Wakeford said: “This incident was clearly an unnecessary drain on resources which wouldn’t have happened if these two men were following the rules.
“We are continuing to engage with motorists and give words of advice wherever possible as most people were out for genuine reasons, including shopping for essential items, working or picking up medication.
“However, Gloucester in particular was unnecessarily busy.
“The message doesn’t seem to be getting through to everybody and excuses that we heard included visiting friends and going to see girlfriends or boyfriends.”
The specialist operations team stopped 66 vehicles on Monday and 85 on Tuesday with numerous more stopped in the evening, this included shoppers heading to the Range to stock up on non-essential plant pots and paints.
On Tuesday, these checks took place in Cheltenham Road in Gloucester.
Inspector Wakeford added: “Please continue to act responsibly as my officers will be out in force on our roads today and in the week ahead.
“And with next weekend being the Easter weekend please remember you should not be travelling anywhere to go on holiday or a day trip.”
