Bulphan partygoers flout Covid-19 regulations

Police have revealed a catalogue of cases across Essex in the past week which saw people issued with fixed penalty notices for going against the rules.

In Bulphan, in the Thurrock borough, police visited a party which had music and fireworks on Tuesday. 

Several fixed penalty notices which are £200 for the first offence, lowered to £100 if paid within 14 days.

• READ MORE: How to report Covid rule breakers to Essex Police

An Essex Police spokesman said: "We know this is a really challenging time but we really appreciate all the efforts of the vast majority of people across Essex who are continuing to do the right thing. It really is making a difference.

"We will continue to respond to clear and blatant breaches and, where they occur, work with our partners to resolve them."

• READ MORE: Car seized and fines given for lockdown breach in Southend

Other incidents include:

• A 32-year-old Wickford man was hit with a fixed penalty notice after inviting seven friends round to watch boxing on television
• A 24-year-old woman was found seeing her parents four days after a positive Covid test and a 41-year-old woman went back to work in Clacton before her isolation period ended. Both were issued with FPNs.
• On Wednesday, a beautician was found treating a client in a shed behind a Southend beauty parlour. Both women, aged 54 and 52, were issued with fixed penalty notices
• Police found two customers having tattoos in a tattoo parlour in the Epping Forest district. The manager received a £1,000 fixed penalty notice and the staff member also received an FPN
• Fines were issued to people at Stansted Airport attempting to take to the skies without with a valid reason to travel. These included two 21-year-old men and a 35-year-old woman, who were planning to fly to Albania, and a 40-year-old woman who wanted to visit her boyfriend in Morocco.
• Four illegal parties since New Year’s Eve. This prompted police to secure a closure order for a property in Sewardstonebury. 
  Police post a notice of closure of the house in Sewardstonebury

The Essex Police spokesman added: "Thank you to everyone across Essex who has stayed at home to help protect the NHS. We know it has been a very challenging time but your sacrifices are making a difference.

"Our officers continue to take a common sense approach to policing the guidelines by engaging, explaining the regulations and encouraging people to do the right thing.

"When there have been clear and blatant breaches of the rules - like the unlicensed music events that led to a closure order on a house in Sewardstonebury - we have responded."