Two 'Dracula fans' fined for detouring to visit Whitby Abbey during journey from Edinburgh to Cambridge

They told police they had visited the historic site because of its connections with Bram Stoker's gothic horror novel during a cross-country journey from Edinburgh to Cambridge.

Officers also caught four people at the abbey who claimed to have caught the wrong train from Newcastle, despite their tickets having Whitby as the destination.

At a meeting of the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum on Wednesday morning, Superintendent Mike Walker, North Yorkshire Police lead for the force’s Covid response, spoke about the incidents..

He said: “We had four people from Newcastle claiming to be on the wrong train despite the fact their tickets clearly stated Whitby as the destination.

“And a couple travelling from Edinburgh to Cambridge who took a detour to see Whitby Abbey apparently because they are fans of Dracula.

“So we continue to patrol and will continue to enforce the relevant legislation where necessary to protect all our chances of coming out of lockdown in line with the roadmap as quickly and as safely as possible.”

Mr Walker said there has also been an increase of people found travelling into the county to ride bikes, motorcycles or to take part in outdoor activities.

In total, there were 110 fixed penalty notices issued in the Scarborough borough in the last seven days, a majority of the 210 issued in North Yorkshire as a whole.

Two-thirds of the fines were handed out to visitors to the county.

It means that 630 fixed penalty notices have now been issued in Scarborough alone since January 6 when the third lockdown began, which is 42 per cent of all fines issued by North Yorkshire Police for Covid breaches in that time.