POLICE have now issued over 1,000 Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs) to people in North Yorkshire for breaching Covid regulations during the third national lockdown.

A further 191 FPNs have been issued over the last week, making it the busiest week so far for North Yorkshire Police in terms of handing out the penalties. These further FPNs take the total during the third lockdown to 1,017.

A total of 240 FPNs have been issued in York, 34 of which were in the last week.

The penalties are split into four categories, indoor gatherings, outdoor gatherings, being outside the place of living and obstruct/contravene/fail to close business.

In York, 60 have been issued for being outside the place of living, three for outdoor gatherings, 173 for indoor gatherings and four for obstruct/contravene/fail to close business.

A total of 194 FPNs have been issued to local residents in York and 46 to visitors. The penalties are also split into genders, 140 have been issued to males and 100 to females.

Scarborough has had the highest number of FPNs issued during the third lockdown in North Yorkshire with 393.

Commenting on the figures, Chief Inspector Charlotte Bloxham, deputy lead for the force’s Covid-19 response said: "As we expected, half term proved to be the busiest week we have experienced so far in enforcement terms, with 191 FPNs being issued across the seven days.

"Over half of the tickets issued were to visitors to the county and the majority for being outdoors without a reasonable excuse.

"Until the Government indicates that it is safe to move to the next stage of the road map on the March 29, the current lockdown rules and regulations will stay in place and North Yorkshire Police will continue to police them.

"We will take the necessary enforcement action required to protect the green shoots of recovery we are starting to see and to protect all our chances of getting out of lockdown.

"So I would ask the public to keep going. We are on the right path and we are doing the right things, but we must remain vigilant to the threat of the virus.

"Covid-19 has not gone away, please carry on sticking to the rules, so we can continue to move towards better times ahead."