POLICE have fined scores of people - most of them visitors from Tier 3 areas - for breaching Covid rules in York city centre.

Supt Mike Walker, of North Yorkshire Police, has spoken of his disappointment after enforcement action had to be taken at the weekend against people who had come to York from areas with Tier 3 restrictions, and resisted police requests to disperse and leave.

He told a resilience forum today: "It s disappointing and I am sorry to say that we have had to issue a number of fixed penalty notices, mainly in the city of York, and the vast majority to Tier 3 visitors in breach of indoor gathering rules.

"So far, we know we have issued 74 tickets, and I believe we have about another 100 more in the pipeline waiting to be processed.

"Of those 74, 18 were to local residents for Tier 2 breaches - 11 in Scarborough -and the remaining 56 were issued to Tier 3 residents who had travelled into the area and breached indoor gathering rules in the city of York, with only one in Scarborough.

"We were hoping to see people acting responsibly and in line with the regulations but sadly this was not the case.

"Over the weekend a number who were breaching restrictions were spoken to and many did disperse and leave the city centre. However, a number did not, with some groups becoming quite resistant to the advice given by officers, therefore enforcement steps were taken.

"I would like to reassure the residents of York that we will keep up our patrols of the city centre and will continue to take action against those who flout the rules."

The forum also heard that:

*The Scarborough district had seen a dramatic increase in the number of coronavirus cases to 253 per 100,000 population, and was suffering a 'pretty scary' rise in the number of cases among children and young people, and adults in their 30s and 40s.

*The number of Covid patients at York Hospital had risen by 11 in the past week to 46, Harrogate Hospital had 14 such patients - down from 21 - and Scarborough had 36, down by two.

*A total of 102 residents and staff had coronavirus at 46 care homes.

*Six Covid vaccination sites were now live and this number would rise to 12 by Xmas Eve.