PEOPLE in Wiltshire are once again being reminded of the importance of adhering to the national lockdown.

For the second week in a row, police issued more than 50 fines to people who were failing to follow the Government’s lockdown rules.

The latest figures show that between February 1 and February 7 Wiltshire Police:

• Issued 52 fixed penalty notices. This brings the overall total to 509 (this will include FPNs issued retrospectively).

• Issued 108 formal warnings to people for failing to adhere to the Government rules. Three of these were issued to business not complying.

• Recorded 19 interactions/engagement.

• Recorded 299 reports from members of the public, either via the phone or using the online reporting tool.

• Recorded seven Covid-related crimes and 50 Covid-related incidents.

Deputy Chief Constable Paul Mills said there was a sense that some people were becoming complacent about the importance of lockdown.

He said: “I know that so many people will have found this third national lockdown very difficult.

“It appears that some may be becoming fatigued by the ongoing restrictions, or perhaps the positive news about the vaccination roll-out is causing a misguided sense of complacency.

“The Government has made it clear that this pandemic is far from over and the various new strains that we have seen emerging across the country, means it remains incredibly important that we all do our bit to help stop the spread of the virus.

“Now is not the time to be lax – the lockdown remains in place and everybody needs to play their part by staying at home unless they have an essential reason for being out and about.

“We will continue to carry out our proactive patrols and, where appropriate, we will issue fines to that small minority who continue to flout the law.”

Police and Crime Commissioner Angus Macpherson added: “We are now coming up to almost a year since we first started hearing about Covid-19 and I appreciate that this latest lockdown, which has coincided with the colder, darker months, has felt tough for a lot of people.

“But the reality is, we need everyone to do their bit if we want our lives to return to some sort of normality any time soon – the more people break the rules, the more prevalent the virus will be.

“So I would urge everyone to continue to think carefully about their actions and do everything they can to limit social contact.”