Shoppers are claiming police have fined them for leaving the house to buy items that are considered ‘non-essential’-including wine and snacks.
Since UK lockdown on March 23rd, rules have restricted freedom of movement, with only a handful of exceptions including one form of outdoor exercise per day and to go shopping for ‘basic necessities’. Anyone violating the rules were warned that police would have the power to enforce the measures through fines.
One shopper claimed she had been fined £30 after having her shopping bags searched by authorities, saying: “I was walking through Holyrood Park (in Edinburgh) on Sunday afternoon on my way back from Morrisons. Two officers asked me to look inside my bag, and then fined me for having only crisps, other snacks and a bottle of wine.”
It was confirmed, however, that she had also admitted to refusing to comply with demands from the officers to return home immediately.
A West Lothian resident tweeted to say they knew two people who had been fined; a uniformed nurse who left the house of a patient and another who left a store with only a bottle of wine.
A week after the lockdown was enforced, the Warrington Police Force tweeted that six people in the area had already been summoned for offences linked to the latest laws on coronavirus. It stated that ‘multiple people going to the shops from the same household for non-essential items,’ as well as others going for a drive due to boredom and returning from parties.
Another force tweeted to say that finding people buying compost and other garden products that are considered non-essential was disappointing.