Police who fined two women £200 for meeting up for country walk are slammed by ex chief constable

A former-police chief has claimed the Derbyshire force who fined two women for going on a socially-distanced country walk together has ‘damaged’ the public’s perception of the police. 

Former Durham Police chief constable Mike Barton said he believed Derbyshire Police would ‘row back’ on its decision to fine beautician Jessica Allen and her British Airways flight attendant friend Eliza Moore.

The women were slapped with two £200 for driving seven miles for a socially-distanced stroll at Foremark Reservoir because officers said their hot drinks counted as a ‘picnic’.

The reservoir is just ten minutes away from their homes and the pair arrived in separate cars.

Mr Barton said ‘damage’ has already been done as the public will be less likely to abide by the law if the police aren’t acting ‘fairly’. 

He told BBC Breakfast: ‘I think personally Derbyshire will row back from this position, but sadly there will be some damage done here because for the public to comply with the law, they have got to think and see the police are acting fairly. It’s called procedural justice.

‘If police aren’t seen to be acting fairly, the public won’t comply.

‘It’s all very well some people in Whitehall sabre rattling and banging the table that the police are going to enforce these rules, that doesn’t bring about compliance. The public seeing fairness does.’

Mr Barton said it was ‘no wonder’ some police forces were confused about how to enforce the Covid-19 laws, given some of the terminology used by the Government.

He told BBC Breakfast on Saturday: ‘What we have got here is police in the past nine months have had hundreds of different rules sent to them.

‘In my day when I was policing we would have one piece of legislation a year, maybe a couple, and then we would have a training programme on how to enforce it. That space hasn’t been given to policing.

‘This is all based on the word ‘local’ and I have never seen that in legislation before.

‘None of those issues have ever been described by the law before, so no wonder there is some confusion out there.’

Current lockdown guidance instructs the public to limit exercise – including running, cycling, swimming and walking – to once per day, and says while people can leave their home, they should not travel outside their local area.

But the rules do not restrict the distance traveled to carry out exercise. 

The National Police Chief’s Council guidance reads: ‘UK Government

guidance strongly requests that people do not leave their local area.

‘However, the Covid Regulations which officers enforce and which enables them to issue FPNs (Fixed Penalty Notices) for breaches, do not restrict the distance travelled for exercise.

‘Police officers will be inquisitive about why people are out of their homes and will explain the regulations and encourage people to comply.

‘Where people are breaching the regulations and are away from home without a reasonable excuse, they may be issued with a FPN. 

‘In situations where people are breaching the guidance not to travel out their local area but are not breaching regulations, officers will encourage people to follow the guidance.’ 

Ms Allen, 27, said she assumed ‘someone had been murdered’ when she saw a police van, a police car and several officers at the entrance of the open space. 

‘It was a short journey and only took about ten minutes,’ she said. I genuinely thought someone had been murdered or a child had gone missing; the place is normally so quiet. 

‘The next thing, my car is surrounded. I got out of my car thinking ”There’s no way they’re coming to speak to us”. Straight away they start questioning us. One of them started reading my rights and I was looking at my friend thinking ”This must be a joke”. 

‘I said we had come in separate cars, even parked two spaces away and even brought our own drinks with us. He said ”You can’t do that as it’s classed as a picnic”.

‘Crossing into a different county seems to have caused the issue but the border into Derbyshire is only a minute away from my house.’  

Following outrage sparked by the officers’ response, the ‘intimidating’ force is reviewing its Covid operations after getting clarification about the rules.

Ms Allen insisted that said she is taking the pandemic ‘seriously’ as her brother is a doctor working on a Covid ward in London, and her parents have both had coronavirus.

She said she drove to the reservoir as she knew it would be less crowded than near her house. ‘I’m self-employed but my business is closed and I’m trying to fill my time,’ she said.

‘I suffer from anxiety and when you go by the water you feel so much better. I live on my own for five days a week and the only thing I’ve got to look forward to is planning a walk with my friend.’

She said brush with the law was ‘very intimidating’ and had left her feeling scared of the police.

‘I was so shook up afterwards,’ she said. ‘The fact they read my rights. I thought ‘Am I going to prison for going on a walk?’

‘I’m not a criminal but we were treated as if we were criminals and it really made me feel for those people who are wrongly arrested and questioned by police, because it wasn’t a nice situation to be in.’

Derbyshire Police said in a statement: ‘Driving to a location – where exercise could easily have been taken closer to a person’s home – is clearly not in the spirit of the national effort to reduce our travel, reduce the possible spread of the disease and reduce the number of deaths.

‘Each officer will use their professional judgement on a case-by-case basis, however, people should expect to be challenged and understand the clear reasons why they may be asked about their movements given the critical situation the NHS currently finds itself in.’

‘It is up to each individual officer on a case-by-case basis to decide what is reasonable as the legislation does not proscribe a distance.’  

Ms Moore, 27, said she was ‘stunned at the time’ so did not challenge police and gave her details so they could send a fixed penalty notice.

‘Just seeing a police officer anyway is quite scary for some people and we were really not expecting to be approached and to be told we were doing something wrong,’ she said.

‘We don’t want to get away with it if we have broken the rule, but it seems a bit unfair that you can be fined on something that’s so vague.’

The pair were also told their cups of Starbucks peppermint tea, which they bought at a drive-thru, were not allowed because they were ‘classed as a picnic’. 

Guidance for the current lockdown says people can travel for exercise ‘as long as it is in their local area’, but does not specify how far people can travel. 

Derbyshire Police insisted the distance was ‘at the discretion’ of individual officers and the trip was ‘not in the spirit of the rules’. 

The force has previously been criticised for its heavy-handed approach to enforcing the restrictions, and in March released drone footage of dog walkers in the Peak District in an attempt to ‘shame’ them. 

And in March, the force dumped black dye into a famous blue lagoon in Harpur Hill near Buxton to prevent Instagrammers from posing for snaps during the lockdown.  

It comes as police forces nationwide upped up their enforcement of Covid regulations. 

The Broseley and Much Wenlock division of West Mercia Police tweeted last night: ‘There have been two reports of snowballs being thrown last night between 11 and 11.30pm.

‘This is obviously not a justifiable reason to be out of your house, this behaviour is likely to result in a £200 Fixed Penalty Notice for breaking the lockdown rules.’

In Aberdeen, two policeman knocked on a family’s front door after complaints from a neighbour and stormed inside as a woman shouted ‘this is my house, get out of my house’ and children screamed in the background. 

Two women, aged 18 and 48, and a 43-year-old man were charged in connection with assaulting police officers and threatening and abusive behaviour.

The footage immediately sparked controversy, with critics accusing the police of ‘oppressive’ behaviour for storming into a private house – while others argued they were just trying to enforce the Covid rules.  

At Euston, officers were seen stopping passengers this morning to ask where they were going. Barrister Alex Wright tweeted: ‘Good to see lockdown being taken seriously, but a sad sight that I’d have dreamed of seeing in London.’ 

Snowdonia National Park has now closed all its car parks to visitors to ‘protect our communities and the NHS’, as officials slammed the public for ‘disregarding’ the law. 

In an attempt to clarify the guidance, Leicester City Council’s public health director Professor Ivan Browne today urged residents to visit ‘your nearest park, not your nicest park’, Leicester Live reported.