As lockdown continues, so do the fines for breaking lockdown restrictions. While the majority of fines have been issued to ravers and protestors, events organizers are now at risk of £10,000 fines. However, enforcing these type of penalties come with numerous issues. 196 of these fines have been issued, and only five of these have been paid off. Civil liberties activists have criticized these fines as methods to criminalize citizens during a period of financial instability.
Our Legal Policy Officer Madeleine Stone said these unpaid fines are “‘a prosecution crisis waiting to happen”. She called these type of fines “a draconian and ineffective response to the pandemic”.