POLICE in Hampshire have issued more than 1,000 Covid fines since the start of the pandemic.

Statistics released by the National Police Chiefs’ Council show the county force issued 1,247 fixed penalty notices for breaches of the coronavirus regulations between March 27, 2020, and February 14 this year.

They included 26 fines for flouting face-covering rules, three fines for people failing to self-isolate after returning from abroad and 33 fines for businesses operating outside of the law.

However, no fines were dished out to anyone for holding a gathering of more than 30 people

In total, 567 fixed penalty notices were handed out between March 27 last year and December 20.

This means that more than half were issued in a period of less than two months.

Nationally, a total of 68,952 fixed penalty notices were issued by forces, including 63,201 in England and 5,751 in Wales.

The NPCC has said that a steep rise in the number of tickets handed out following the introduction of Tier 4 restrictions before Christmas and the latest national lockdown in England on January 4 reflects a move towards quicker enforcement by police.

Commenting on the fines Supt Phil Lamb said: “The number of fixed penalty notices (FPN’s) issued does not necessarily reflect an increase or decrease in compliance from the public relating to the restrictions in place at a given time. Rather an increase may highlight periods of national restrictions where increased enforcement action rightly takes place. Any enforcement we take is based upon reports made to us by the public or incidents that officers observe as part of their proactive patrols.

“Our officers do all that they can to keep our communities safe. We will continue to follow the tried and tested approach of engaging, explaining and encouraging people to comply with the restrictions. However I have emphasised to officers that robust enforcement action should be taken where blatant breaches in public places or private premises are reported to us.

“The message is simple, you should be staying at home, it’s vital that everyone understands this and observes the restrictions in place.

“The vast majority of people in our communities have observed the restrictions in place at any given time. The number of fines issued represents a small number of the thousands of interactions we have had with the public. The fines do act as a deterrent to repeated breaches of the regulations.

"Limiting the spread of infection is everybody’s responsibility, and not just down to the police or enforcement. We will continue to work with our health colleagues, businesses, government, hospitality owners, local authorities, universities, and others, as we ensure that we all play our part in keeping our communities as safe as possible throughout the pandemic”.