South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner criticises "whack-a-mole" approach to tackling virus following weekend of Halloween parties being shut down

South Yorkshire Police & Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings said the lack of clarity over inconsistent rules had been exploited by people "flouting" them as infection rates in the county surge.

It comes as the police force revealed it issued nine of the maximum penalty fines of £10,000 over the weekend with officers called to shut down several gatherings.

In a response posted on the PCC’s website, Dr Billings said: “People have become less trusting because the national approach to suppressing the virus has seemed too much like whack-a-mole and less like a consistent strategy with a clear endpoint.

“As a result we have started to see too many people flouting the rules and gathering unsafely in numbers, especially recently.”

South Yorkshire had already been in Tier 3 of restrictions for a week when Prime Minister announced a second lockdown on Saturday.

Dr Billings continued: “The infection is potentially life-threatening in itself and could lead to many others with serious illnesses not being able to access treatment speedily if the NHS becomes overwhelmed again this winter.

“The police will continue to seek to persuade people to obey the law, but no one should be in any doubt that the law will be enforced, for all our sakes.”

South Yorkshire Police said officers had been called to several parties at the weekend as people celebrated the Halloween festivities, despite restrictions on households mixing.

Humberside Police also revealed it had served two penalty notices after dispersing parties at two separate addresses on Saturday.

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