Coronavirus: Thousands fined by police for flouting lockdown

Published 14 April, 2020

In April 2020 the BBC Shared Data Unit reported police had spoken to thousands of people for flouting social distancing rules over the Easter bank holiday weekend.

They included a couple from Hertfordshire who drove to Brighton to walk on the beach and a family from London who drove to the Lake District.

Other police forces, however, thanked the public for observing the rules.

The National Police Chiefs' Council released data the day after our report on the number of people fined for breaching social distancing rules between 27 March and 13 April.

We calculated the rate of fines per 10,000 people in each police force area and shared that with partners. The most fines - proportionally - were issued in coastal areas - North Yorkshire, Devon, Cornwall, Cleveland and Lancashire.

The Shared Data Unit makes data journalism available to news organisations across the media industry, as part of a partnership between the BBC and the News Media Association. Stories generated by the partnership included:

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You can find all coronavirus-related stories by the BBC data units tagged 'coronavirus' here