Celebrating A-Level students in Leeds warned not to break lockdown rules

Assistant Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police (GMP) Nick Bailey said his officers did not want to marr the "joyous occasion" by handing out fines.

GMP has seen a surge in demand in recent days, with 1,106 reported breaches of lockdown rules over the weekend alone - a rise of 25 per cent on the previous weekend.

Of the 1,106 reports, 540 were house parties, and 48 were pubs that were accused of breaching lockdown regulations.

Officers attended 40 of the reports, arrested 10 people and issued 11 fines for breaking the pandemic rules.

Mr Bailey said: "I understand that A-level results are coming out this week and people will rightly want to celebrate.

"However, please be mindful of the covid regulations in your celebrations as we do not want to spoil what should be a joyous occasion by issuing FPNs (fixed penalty notices) at any house parties or illegal gatherings.

"It is worth noting that recent spikes in Greater Manchester which led to the additional restrictions were centred around house parties with 17/18 year olds."

GMP advised the public to check lockdown rules on the Government website rather than phoning the police, and both it and West Yorkshire Police are encouraging people to report non-urgent incidents online.

West Yorkshire said it is receiving around 4,200 to 5,400 contacts each day, including 1,500 emergency 999 calls on busy days.

Both forces are in areas that currently have local lockdown restrictions in place.

Elsewhere, Devon and Cornwall has seen record numbers of 999 calls as tourists flock to the area.

The force said that on Saturday and Sunday it received 2,301 999 calls, up from 1,819 in the same period in 2019.

In the first 10 days of August, the force dealt with 9,622 of the emergency calls, compared to the average of 718 per day. Use of the force's online webchat has also doubled.

Anti-social behaviour (ASB) including dumping rubbish and alcohol-related disorder has risen by 67 per cent compared to last year.

Assistant Chief Constable Jim Colwell said: "We want to welcome tourists safely back in to our communities and support a restart to our essential tourism economy.

"But that needs to be done respectfully by everyone and the levels of ASB recorded over the weekend are unacceptably high."

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Thank you

Laura Collins