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Woman fined £10,000 for having 50 guests at 30th birthday party

Nottinghamshire Police ‘had no choice’ but to hand out maximum fine for breaching Covid regulations

Kate Ng
Sunday 25 April 2021 17:24 BST
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A woman in Nottingham was fined £10,000 after police found 50 people attending a 30th birthday party at the back of a property
A woman in Nottingham was fined £10,000 after police found 50 people attending a 30th birthday party at the back of a property (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

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A woman was handed the maximum fine for breaching coronavirus regulations after she held a 30th birthday party with more than 50 guests inside a marquee.

Nottinghamshire Police responded to reports of the party in St Emmanuel View, Bestwood, Nottingham, at around 8.30pm on Friday night.

Officers found a “large gathering was taking place inside” the marquee, which was set up at the back of the house.

A spokesperson for the force said officers had “no choice but to hand the woman who was found to have organised the party £10,000 fine”.

The government’s current coronavirus regulations state that two households of groups of up to six people are allowed to meet up in parks or private gardens in England.

Assistant chief constable Gerard Milano said the force had “ no wish to break up people’s fun but the rules are relay clear and they are there to protect us all”.

He described the incident as a “clear and deliberate” breach of the regulations on meeting people from a different household, which are set to remain in place until at least 21 June.

From that date, prime minister Boris Johnson hopes to lift all legal limits on social contact. But this is dependent on the country meeting all four conditions for lockdown easing.

The conditions set out by the government include the successful rollout of Covid vaccines, evidence showing a reduction in deaths and the number of people requiring hospital treatment, infection rates that do not threaten a surge in hospital admissions, and low risk from new variants of the virus.

Mr Milano added: “The majority of people have been following the rules and as a result we have seen the number of positive cases of Covid in our area dramatically drop. The rollout of the vaccine is also helping to stop the virus and now some of the lockdown restrictions have been eased, but we are most certainly not out of the woods yet.

“The only way we will be able to deal with this, avoid another lockdown and ensure that progress is irreversible, is to stick to the rules.”

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