Covid: Dracula fans fined for Whitby Abbey visit

Two Dracula fans who made a pit stop at the port where their fictional hero arrived in England have been fined for breaching Covid-19 rules.

The pair were on a 350-mile trip from Edinburgh to Cambridge at the weekend when they decided to take a detour to Whitby Abbey, police said.

The abbey features in Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel and Dracula's first victim is in Whitby.

Police warned they would be on the lookout for other would-be visitors.

Supt Mike Walker, North Yorkshire Police's lead officer for Covid response, said the couple were not the only people to opt to visit Whitby in recent days.

He said four more people had been found making a 140-mile (225km) round trip to visit the attraction.

"We had four people from Newcastle claiming to be on the wrong train despite the fact their tickets clearly stated Whitby as the destination," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

He also said the North Yorkshire force had issued 110 Fixed Penalty Notices in the Scarborough borough, which includes Whitby, in the past seven days.

For the county as a whole the figure was 210, two-thirds of which were issued to people coming from outside the county.

"So we continue to patrol and will continue to enforce the relevant legislation where necessary to protect all our chances of coming out of lockdown in line with the roadmap as quickly and as safely as possible," Supt Walker said.

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