Police issue £13k in Covid fines after crashing Knightsbridge house party
11 February 2021, 17:26 | Updated: 11 February 2021, 17:31
Over £13,000 in Covid fines were handed out after police broke up a house party in Knightsbridge.
Officers were called to the house in central London on Saturday night after reports from members of the public.
They found more than 20 people from different households inside playing loud music and drinking alcohol, with 17 handed fixed penalty notices of £800 each.
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After finding "clear signs" of drug use, officers searched the partygoers and recovered a bladed weapon and a small amount of unspecified drugs.
One person admitted to travelling over 20 miles away from Slough to attend the party.
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It was later discovered the property had been rented out over the weekend specifically for the party, prompting officers to Police to investigate further and attempt to find the owner.
Chief superintendent Helen Harper, BCU commander for Central West London, said: “Those who have followed the Covid-19 rules from the outset of the pandemic are, I am sure, fed up of seeing and hearing about blatant breaches of the legislation such as this.
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"Whilst explaining why attendees would be issued with fines, my officers were met with resistance from some who felt that they had every right to meet and socialise.
"I would like to reiterate the words of my officers: across the capital and the country, there are people whose quality of life will be detrimentally affected by the virus, and others who will not survive at all."
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She added: "Those present at this party chose to ignore regulations that have been highly publicised, promoted through official government channels and set out in legislation.
"We implore that people refrain from meeting with others outside of their household – there are millions of people are risk, and we must do everything we can to protect them.”
