Only one in four Covid fines paid in West Midlands

West Midlands Police has issued 2,490 fines since the start of the pandemic to people who have breached lockdown regulations.

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd said that by January 19 a total of 1,345 of them were being dealt with by ACRO, the organisation which processes fixed penalty notices.

He told a meeting of the Police and Crime Commissioner's strategic board that 28 per cent of the fines had been paid, while a quarter of them were "effectively being ignored by recipients".

The vast majority of the remainder were "still in the system waiting to be processed", he added, while a small number – around one per cent – had been contested in court.

ACC Todd also said that in some cases people had seen their fines increase up to £1,000 after contesting them.

He said that 22 'super fines' of £10,000 had been issued in the West Midlands to date.

"We're yet to have a super fine prosecuted through the criminal justice system," he told the meeting. "We have seen two that have gone; one has been withdrawn and the other discontinued.

"The rest are awaiting processing at court."

The force has also seen a huge spike in the number of 'directions to leave' issued, after enforcement was ramped up since the turn of the year.

ACC Todd said: "There has been an increase in the number of directions to leave more recently.

"In essence as the pandemic has been prolonged, the expectation that people understand the rules means that the '4Es' approach leads to a direction to leave probably quicker now than it did in the early days of the pandemic."

Officers have broken up a number of major incidents in recent weeks, including a makeshift pub in a garage in Dudley Port, while fines totalling £28,800 were issued to 36 people found in an illegal pop-up shisha bar in Birmingham.

Under new powers police can fine people £800 for breaching regulations. The standard penalty is £200.