Warwickshire Police force told not to issue any more maximum £10,000 lockdown fines

Warwickshire’s police and crime commissioner has admitted that the county’s police force had been told not to issue any more maximum £10,000 lockdown fines.

And Philip Seccombe explained that, after issuing three such fines for those breaching Covid restrictions, he was disappointed with the diktak from above adding that the law needed looking at.

He told yesterday's (Thursday's) meeting of the Warwickshire Police and Crime Panel that the county’s police force had fared better than most when it came to people paying their fines with 48 per cent of the 372 fixed penalty notices issued being paid.

But he added: “We have issued three £10,000 fines which are obviously for bigger gatherings and operations. We have had a notice to not serve any more of those for the time being which I’m disappointed about. Apparently, if you go to court it has to be means tested and there are lots of ways an alleged perpetrator can weadle out of it so the law needs tightening a bit.”

Mr Seccombe went on to explain to the panel some of the ways that the pandemic had impacted the work of police and the courts in Warwickshire.

He said: “A lot of work has been done to try and make courtrooms Covid secure but that is quite difficult when you think there are judges, clerks, victims and witnesses, the alleged perpetrator and jury teams. It is quite difficult to be socially distanced with that amount of people and the bigger the trial then the more there are.

“I think it is fair to say that the backlog in magistrates’ courts is reducing but it’s not so easy within the Crown courts and the big criminal trials.”

And he explained that Covid restrictions had also hindered the work of the volunteers who check on those in police custody.

“Like every other scheme in the country, our independent custody visitors are wrestling with the fluctuating restrictions and the need to find new ways of working and take additional precautions,” the commissioner explained.

He did add that virtual visits had been used and that the situation would be reviewed once the current lockdown was over.