Driving 3 miles to beach and fined £200

[nancybotwinbloom]

A friend of a friend drove three miles to her nearest beach and took her newborn for a walk in the pram.

She was surrounded by police and fined £200.

This was today.

I think it must of been scary to be surrounded by police with the pram and the newborn. Surely only one of them needed to speak to her. Not mob handed. Or are they all unreasonable?

Is it unreasonable to drive three miles for a walk? I'm at a point now I can't work out what's local and what's not. I don't think she was in the wrong in all honesty.

Or is it that she drove there that it's not local enough.

I walk nearly three miles to the park with the dog and walk through the park and walk back most days and I don't think I am unreasonable?

What is local classed as these days?

Ridiculous. Three miles is about as local as it is possible to be. If I had to stay in a 3 mile radius of my home I would have no access to any shops or places to exercise.

There are way more important things to be doing for the police. I don't think your friend broke any rules at all.

That sounds madness. The police agreed 5 miles was ok. Where was she?

Well where I live we're explicitly told to stay within 5km of our home so it's pretty clear? Aren't the rules similar where you are? So if she's outside the allocated distance then The police were just doing their job?

Hmm, friend of a friend, are you certain this is the full story?

A bit excessive there

It’s 3 miles for me to go to work..which is probably essential

But still...3 miles is nothing

I would doubt that they can actually enforce the fine.

3 miles is definitely local!

where was this OP ?

Yes that’s local. And I’m pretty sure the local bit is just guidance not the law anyway!

Wow. That's insane. My bubble person lives 3 miles away. I work 10 miles away.

Shocking, I hope she challenges it and that she feels OK. It must have been very intimidating.

Yes if its challenged it will be set aside. There is no case in law

@HitchFlix

Well where I live we're explicitly told to stay within 5km of our home so it's pretty clear? Aren't the rules similar where you are? So if she's outside the allocated distance then The police were just doing their job?

That's not in line with gov uk guidance Welcome to police state uk

Where in law has it been said that x distance is too far?

I haven’t read anything about distance.

That's nuts. I walk further than that with my dogs and they're still full of beans when they get back.

I work 7 miles away and have still been attending counselling 21 miles away.

Part of me thinks this is just bollocks.

The other part thinks we are told to stay at home. If you want to walk, walk round the block. Getting in a car and travelling for a "walk" isn't what we are meant to be doing is it?

That is absolutely ridiculous.

We live rurally and our nearest big supermarket is 18 miles away....!

People exaggerate when they're caught out.

I'd say 3 miles was probably 5 or 6 miles and/or passing a number of suitable places to exercise just to get to the coast.

So my best guess is she probably was bu and doesn't like being pulled up on it.

Completely unenforceable and illegally issued. It won’t even get to court.

@Ch3rish

Hmm, friend of a friend, are you certain this is the full story?

It does sound like one of those FB stories that people put on sounding like it was someone they know... until you notice that they refer to dollars, and 2014...

That fine is against the law - the police are not allowed to do anything to enforce non-legally binding guidelines about local exercise. Derbyshire constabulary has had to cancel loads of fines after they were told they can only enforce the actual law, not advice or guidance.

Your friend should refuse to pay and challenge it.

@Ch3rish

Yes I'm sure. It's a person my best friend works with who is on mat leave.

What I posted is the info she gave me.

I know the area her friend lives in and I know where she went for a walk.

@HitchFlix

Well where I live we're explicitly told to stay within 5km of our home so it's pretty clear? Aren't the rules similar where you are? So if she's outside the allocated distance then The police were just doing their job?

5km is about 3 Miles

And in terms of exaggerating I'd also wager being 'surrounded' by police was probably 2 walking over to her

Agree with a PP that if it’s a ‘friend of a friend’ you probably haven’t got the actual story. This is the kind of situation where two police officers suddenly turn into a ‘mob’ and ‘surround’ someone in an overly dramatic retelling of the event.