Northamptonshire couple fined after travelling over 120 miles to go seal-watching

The couple admitted that they were eager to visit the seaside town’s famous seals.
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Two people from Northamptonshire were fined earlier this week after travelling from their home in Wellingborough to visit Horsey Beach's famous seals in Norfolk.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced a third lockdown on January 4 amidst rising coronavirus cases and warned the public to stay at home and not to make any unnecessary journeys.

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The man and woman - both in their fifties - nonetheless decided to make the 120 mile plus journey to Great Yarmouth on Thursday 7 January.

A Northamptonshire couple were fined after breaking lockdown rules to visit seals in Norfolk.A Northamptonshire couple were fined after breaking lockdown rules to visit seals in Norfolk.
A Northamptonshire couple were fined after breaking lockdown rules to visit seals in Norfolk.

Norfolk Police were carrying out patrols in the area at around 4pm and approached the couple in the beach car park after vehicle checks found that their car was registered to an address outside of the county.

The couple were issued with a fixed penalty notice, as a consequence.

Temporary Assistant Chief Constable, Julie Wvendth, at Norfolk Constabulary, said: “The ‘stay at home’ rule is clear; you should only leave your home for a reasonable excuse such as food shopping, caring for someone who is vulnerable and for one form of exercise a day. If you do need to leave home for any of these reasons, you should stay local.

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“The government have outlined that staying local means staying in the village, town or part of the city where you live. It’s our responsibility to adhere to this no matter how tempting it is to travel for a change of scene.”

Police officers, up and down the county, will be carrying out dedicated COVID-19 patrols in areas such as town centres and attractions to ensure that people are adhering to the lockdown rules. The public can expect to be stopped by officers and asked about the reasons for being away from their home address.

Ms Wvendth continued: “Contrary to reports on social media, we are not carrying out roadblocks to check the reasons for people travelling. Officers will use their discretion, as they routinely do in the course of their duties, when dealing with people who have travelled away from their home. We will be proportionate in our approach but if we find people are blatantly breaking the rules, we will issue fines.

“We are almost a year into this pandemic; people know the rules and the risks associated with breaking them, so people do not have any excuse for not knowing what is expected.”