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?

[LucyLockdown]

I occasionally go the same beach early in the morning with the dog when it's dead. It was more of a warning to me.



I'm less concerned about the story going from a friend of a friend to a colleague of a colleague of a friend - that's a whole extra degree of separation from the truth - than you going walking on the beach with a dead dog.

Laughing hysterically at this, thank you! Mental image is too much.

[Nicknacky]

@nancybotwinbloom Read your post again then. You have posted it as fact.

You even use the words “mob handed”.

Let’s start being more transparent when we are posting these stories.

[lalaland2]

@Nicknacky

I don’t believe this for a second.

You better believe it because this is our new reality.

[Evidencebased]

I live near the coast.
This sounds made up to me.

" surrounded" by police??
Out here in the sticks we do NOT have enough police to "surround" anybody,
There's one Covid copper, like every other policeman here, he works alone. He does a good job of turning distant day trippers (like 40miles plus) away from the coast, and telling holiday cottage owners to fuck off back where they came from.

Locals get advice and warnings, no one gets fined for driving three miles.

[Comefromaway]

@Santaiscovidfree

The thing is she didn't NEED to drive though did she?
A walk with a pram is enough surely?

Depends where she lives.

Where I am yes, a walk with a pram round the block is perfectly safe and pleasant.

But my goodness you wouldn’t want to be walking round the filthy, crowded streets where my in laws live.

[LJC1234]

If 6 police officers genuinely surrounded a lone woman with a newborn who had done nothing wrong I fully expect to read about it on the news as that is awful.

I don't expect to read it thou because I fully expect it didn't happen quite like that if it happened at all.

[Nicknacky]

@lalaland2 No it isn’t. The odd story which has been twisted does not mean this is happening up and down the country.

By and large the police are far, far too busy to care about someone having a walk when there are no other factors involved.

And that I do know as a fact.

[nancybotwinbloom]

@Nicknacky

Ok I see where you are coming from. Apologies for the confusion. Mob handed to me in our area means lots of them.

[IceIceCoffee]

I believe this also in Liverpool and I know someone who got fined for
Driving three miles for a walk also. Not to a beach though. Surprising they have time really with our crime rates.

[maddiemookins16mum]

@ScrumptiousBears

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?

Exactly. But most of MN argue that because they can drive miles to ‘exercise’ (read that as meeting their pal for a coffee), they will. Why not just take your wain for a 10 min walk around the block (or was this trip to the beach an excuse to meet up with loads of people).

[Legseleven1990]

@nancybotwinbloom

My best friend said six police officers surrounded her.

I don't know her friend personally. Maybe her friend exaggerated how many police were there. I can't vouch for her but my friend told me what I've said here.

She's my best friend I know when she's exaggerating.

How can you actually be passing this off as an accurate story?

[TibetanTerrier]

Gov UK:
".....you should stay local. This means you should avoid travelling outside of your village, town or the part of a city where you live.

[Elai1978]

Gov UK:
".....you should stay local. This means you should avoid travelling outside of your village, town or the part of a city where you live.

It’s like banging your head against a brick wall.

[ithinkyouareveryrude]

As the wife of a copper I can guarantee you this story is 100% bullshit.

She was 'surrounded' by police with her pram? Bollocks.

This is about as believable as the 'woman who was put in prison for putting petrol in her car after getting off the Dover ferry.'

More likely she was questioned by one or two officers after travelling far further afield than she claims, she gave them lip and they issued her a fine.

[nancybotwinbloom]

@Legseleven1990

I'm just saying what I was told today.

I think it's accurate because I trust my friend. That's all.

[LucyLockdown]

@TibetanTerrier

Gov UK:
".....you should stay local. This means you should avoid travelling outside of your village, town or the part of a city where you live.

Quoting the government GUIDANCE does not make it law.

Key words there are 'should' and 'avoid'. If it was law it would say:

You must stay local. That means you must not travel outside of your village, town... etc.

[Elai1978]

More likely she was questioned by one or two officers after travelling far further afield than she claims, she gave them lip and they issued her a fine.

But what would the fine be for, some kind of public order offence if she gave them lip?

[GorvidAl]

I don’t believe this for a minute. Some bored hun wants some attention on Facebook and is spinning this story to her mates. She’ll do a sadface in the local rag, then the local police force will say that a single officer approached her or something.

[MuthaHubbard]

@Elai1978

No wonder the police spoke to her as she could have been one of the many that thinks rules dont apply to them and driven miles.

Not sure what rules you think they are? I can drive 100 miles for exercise if I really want to, it’s not against the law.

Err no you can't - being outside of the area in which you live without reasonable excuse for doing so is legislation and being very much enforced by police in Cumbria - they issued a lot of covid tickets this weekend just gone from what I understand

[LouLou789]

Wow. I can’t walk far (have built it up from zero, though) and so am faced with a choice of walking round my housing estate (which I do sometimes) or driving 4 miles to a choice of 3 different river walks. I still consider that reasonable and pretty local.

[Elai1978]

Err no you can't - being outside of the area in which you live without reasonable excuse for doing so is legislation and being very much enforced by police in Cumbria - they issued a lot of covid tickets this weekend just gone from what I understand

Complete nonsense. You are allowed to leave the house for exercise, end of. There is no law which dictates how far you can travel for that exercise. If they are doing as you say then they are acting illegally as the fines will be thrown out by a court.

[babbi]

Family of police officers here .... NO WAY were there 6 police officers even available together on shift in the same place to surround anyone.
Manning levels are dire at the best of times never mind now when so many are self isolating etc ...
you’d struggle to get a team together to attend a riot in some areas at the minute ...
And really does anyone really believe 6 officers would attend a pram pushing incident- ever ?!

Absolute nonsense... if she was spoken to it was a max of 2 cops

[m0therofdragons]

Which police force would this be? When we had a knife wielding patient at my workplace we had 2 coppers turn up so 6 police officers loitering at a beach seems highly unlikely and police wouldn’t surround a woman with a pushchair in the UK. It’s not how police act! If you think it’s genuine then tweet the force in question and see their response. That said, she hasn’t stayed in her village or town as per the rules and if everyone went to the beach because it’s nice there then there would be an issue (Durdledoor in the summer). How hard is stay in your town?

[ithinkyouareveryrude]

@Elai1978

More likely she was questioned by one or two officers after travelling far further afield than she claims, she gave them lip and they issued her a fine.

But what would the fine be for, some kind of public order offence if she gave them lip?

She would have had to be blatantly breaking Covid rules. With someone else perhaps? Travelled to a different county? Sat having a picnic?

Given what DH says they only issue fines at the absolute end of their tether. They ask people to move along, if they get rude and argue they're warned they can't be in the area/need to stick to guidelines/can't meet up with households etc and if they persist he will issue a fine.

Police are on their knees and there will not be a constabulary in England that can spare six officer to 'surround' a Mother and baby.

[Scarby9]

@Evidencebased
I also live near the coast. During this latest lockdown, I have literally not left the house without seeing a police car or van.

One walk (from my door) cuts through fields into woods then ends up with about half a mile along a nartow unnamed access road back to the main road. One Saturday, about three weeks ago, FIVE police cars or vans passed me on that tiny section of lane as I was walking down it. I have no idea where they have all come from and they are around all the time, mostly in the woods and back lanes, leafleting cars, and telling cyclists off.


This is in an area of quiet villages, with well-behaved people generally living very quiet lives. There have not been any raves in the woods.