Coronavirus: Fines for breaching travel restrictions in Wales could rise

Ministers are considering increasing fines for breaching travel restrictions in Wales after reports of visitors flouting lockdown laws at the weekend.

First Minister Mark Drakeford said he will raise the level of fines if police evidence shows the current system is not "effective".

Wales has not followed England in allowing people to drive for exercise.

But fines in Wales are lower - £60 for a first offence compared to £100 for England.

Police forces have called for the fines in Wales to be increased to the same level.

Meanwhile Mr Drakeford said he was concerned to hear reports of "officers being coughed on, spat at and generally assaulted as they enforce the coronavirus regulations".

"This is simply and absolutely unacceptable," he told the daily Welsh Government press conference.

Dyfed-Powys Police and Crime Commissioner, Plaid Cymru's Dafydd Llewellyn, said the difference in fines between England and Wales was "perverse" when Wales has stricter guidelines but lower sanctions.

He said police were noticing public spaces becoming increasingly busy.

"We've seen it incrementally getting busier since the lockdown went into force at the beginning of it and we're expecting that that will continue as the lockdown is eased," he added.

Dyfed-Powys has issued more than half the 799 fixed penalty notices issued in Wales between 27 March and 11 May:

At the weekend North Wales Police reported turning around tourists from Manchester, Norwich and London as they tried to visit parts of Snowdonia.

Mr Drakeford said that a family of four had travelled from Birmingham to walk up Pen y Fan and a man had travelled from Devon to buy dog food in Brecon.

He said these journeys from England to Wales should not have happened, and urged people in Wales "not to travel distances to other parts of Wales".

But the first minister said police forces told him traffic remains "well below last year's level, and the number of fixed penalty notices, over the last week, was half of that issued over the bank holiday weekend".

On increasing fines, he said police chiefs had given him "additional evidence" on Monday which he would "now consider to make sure that the regulations are working".

Mr Drakeford earlier told BBC Radio Wales Breakfast that if fines are "not being effective, and the way to make them effective is to raise the level, then that's what we will do".

Under the lockdown laws police in Wales can issue fixed penalty notices ranging from £60 for a first offence to £120 for subsequent offences.

In England, they start at £100 and double for each subsequent offence, to a maximum of £3,200.

In both countries the first fine is halved if paid within 14 days.