Two men handed £10,000 fines over mass snowball fight in Woodhouse Moor in Leeds

Around 200 people gathered in Woodhouse Moor for the snowball fight on Tuesday, January 14.

It lasted for more than two hours and many people were in close proximity to one another.

Photographer Liam Ford videoed the scene on the moor and shared it on social media to highlight the lack of social distancing.

At the time, Mr Ford said: "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. There were two groups of around 100 people each side, stood apart, charging at each other and throwing snowballs.

"I was stood there for a good ten minutes and there times when it quietened down and then picked back up again. It just shows a blatant disregard for the NHS and the strain it is under."

Two men who were involved in organising the snowball fight have now been fined for breaching Covid restrictions, West Yorkshire Police said.

The men, aged 20 and 23 were identified and interviewed by police over the course of two days from Wednesday, January 27 and Thursday, January 28.

They were both reported for fixed penalty notices to be issued against them.

The 23-year-old had previously received a fine for breaching restrictions in relation to mixing households at an address in Hyde Park in November.

Chief Superintendent Damien Miller, Leeds District Commander, said: “We take absolutely no pleasure in handing out such heavy fines to these two young men but their actions encouraged hundreds of people to be in close proximity to each other, creating a significant and completely unnecessary risk of increasing the spread of the virus.

“It was a blatant breach of the legislation that is in place to help keep people safe at what remains a critical time for us all.

“The event attracted understandable media attention and widespread public condemnation of all those who irresponsibly took part.

“That said, it remains clear that the vast majority of people recognise the need for collective responsibility and are continuing to stick with the regulations that are there to protect our families and our communities.

“We will continue our approach of engaging, explaining and encouraging compliance but we won’t hesitate to enforce the law where people blatantly disregard the rules and put others at risk.”