Londoners on walking jaunt in Wales stopped by police

Ten people from London who travelled 245 miles to go walking in North Wales were sent home and reported by police for breaking lockdown rules.

The group, travelling in two separate vehicles, had travelled the five-hour journey from the capital earlier on Sunday.

But they were stopped by police near their destination on the A5 in Bethesda.

They told officers they were intending to go walking in Snowdonia, the mountainous National Park in North Wales.

Instead, officers from North Wales Police, who tweeted brief details of the incident, reported them for breaching lockdown laws.

They were then ordered to go home immediately, police escorting their cars to the A-road back to the south to begin the 10-hour round-trip home.

In a second incident dealt with by police, staff from a hotel challenged a man from Cumbria seen returning to his car after he had walked up Mount Snowdon.

He was abusive when challenged, claiming the regulations did not apply to him.

A joint Cheshire and North Wales armed police unit traced his car and stopped him on the A55 where he was reported for also breaching the lockdown regulations.

Meanwhile, in Bridgend officers responded to reports of a house party in Coity.

Police said five of the six occupants were found not to be part of the household – with three coming from Berkshire.

Officers in Merthyr Tydfil found a couple who had travelled nearly 150 miles from Leicester to pick up a rug.

In the Brecon Beacons, police stopped people who had driven from Birmingham and Hereford, and two hikers from Bristol who were attempting to walk Pen Y Fan were issued with fixed penalty notices by police.

In Pembrokeshire, a driver on a 60-mile round trip to buy tomato plants was reported for non-essential travel.

While another driver was stopped at Begelly and issued with a ticket as they were “looking to get a coffee”. Police said it was not the first time this motorist had been reported.

In Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, police found an Airbnb open with a couple from Slough staying there and a hand car wash in operation.

Two people who had travelled from Birmingham for a “day out” to Broadway Tower in the Cotswolds were issued with fixed penalty notices.

While in nearby Bibury, officers issued nine tickets to people visiting from Leicester and London.