POLICE in Hampshire have issued 1,247 Covid fines during the pandemic, with 26 of these given out to people for not following rules around face coverings.

The fines were dished out by Hampshire Police to those breaching Covid restrictions between March 27, 2020 and February 14, 2021.

New data from the National Police Chiefs' Council also shows that no fines were issued to people found to have held a gathering of more than 30 people - the punishment for this is a fine of up to £10,000.

Three fines were issued in Hampshire over the breaching of international travel regulations, and a further 33 given to business owners for breaching restrictions.

In England and Wales, a total of 68,952 fines have been issued over the breaking of Covid rules up to February 14.

Of these, 26,277 were processed between the end of the last reporting period, from January 17 to February 14.

NPCC chairman Martin Hewitt said: “We are still in a really dangerous stage of a pandemic which has killed more than 120,000 people.

“Eleven months on and back into a national lockdown, the rules are really clear and so it is frustrating that we still have a small number of completely defiant and irresponsible people who have no regard for the safety of themselves or others.”

Mr Hewitt added: “We all know we must wear a face covering in a shop or on a bus and we all know we can’t meet up in groups.

“We’re taking a common sense approach, applying discretion and judgement when engaging with the public.

“But common sense would dictate that someone having a party is well aware what they are doing is wrong and has made an informed decision to do it anyway.

“Our extra dedicated patrols across the country will continue to support those of us making significant sacrifices in following the rules by taking enforcement action against those who are not.”

The NPCC report said steep rises in the number of tickets handed out following the introduction of Tier 4 restrictions before Christmas and the latest national lockdown in England on January 6 reflected a move towards quicker enforcement by police.

A total of 4,752 fines were handed out in during the UK the seven days to February 11, down from 6,218 the previous week, but higher than the first lockdown’s peak of 3,294 during the week of the Easter bank holiday in April.