Police withdraw 39 lockdown fines mistakenly issued to children

Nearly 40 fines mistakenly issued to children for alleged breaches of coronavirus lockdown rules will be withdrawn.

Deputy Chief Constable Sara Glen told journalists in a remote media briefing on Wednesday that the law does not allow fixed penalty notices to be issued to under-18s.

Between March 27 and April 13, 39 of the fines were wrongly issued to children by police in England.

During the period a total of 3,203 fines were issued by police forces in England. Over the Easter weekend there were 290 in Wales.

Members of the public as old as 100 were slapped with a £60 penalty, that is reduced to £30 if paid within two weeks.

A third of the fines went to those aged 18-24, with a further third going to those aged 25-34.

Police said that 83 people were brought straight to court for allegedly breaking the rules.

The National Police Chiefs' Council gave a force-by-force breakdown of the number of penalty notices issued, with the highest in Lancashire where 380 were handed out.

Thames Valley Police chalked up 219, while Surrey issued 205.