Surrey Police Thank People For Staying Home But A Few Risk Lives Of Others For Sunshine

Published on: 5 Apr, 2020
Updated on: 7 Apr, 2020

Surrey Police have issued “a huge thank you” to all the Surrey residents who followed government advice to stay in the house to save lives this weekend.

Despite the high temperatures, they said, most people in Surrey stayed home, exercised responsibly and stuck to social distancing, slowing the spread of Covid19 and easing demand on an already stretched NHS.

There were no reports from Surrey Police of regulation breaking in Guildford Borough but police were also called after reports of more than 40 cars parked at the Box Hill beauty spot, near Dorking. Scores of people were discovered sun-bathing.

A passing National Police Air Service helicopter on another call prompted quite a few to leave, but police and PCSOS on the ground still had to persuade “a significant number” to leave.

Cars continued to arrive throughout the afternoon and officers were also alerted to a similar situation at Epsom Downs.

And officers had to break up illegal parking on the A30 London Road in Virginia Water earlier today (April 5) after complaints about illegal parking on the clearway. Several £30 fines were issued and people found to be from as far away as Brentford and Weybridge to exercise were spoken to.

Over the weekend, police have also spoken to two men driving remote control cars in a park who had driven to the location and were not exercising, four teenagers (from two households), who had gone to the park together, one person sunbathing in a public park, saying the garden outside his nearby block of flats was too busy, and eight people having a small street party in a neighbour’s front garden.

Superintendent Chris Colley said: “We understand that in normal situations the warm weather is appealing and we all want to get out and about. But these are not normal times.

“This is a national health emergency and everyone is urged to do their very best to slow the spread of this devastating virus. Every little thing we can do now will help reduce demand for the NHS and save lives.

“We need people to take responsibility and consider their actions before potentially putting other lives at risk. If we need to use the powers we have been granted under the Coronavirus Act we will do so.

“But the majority of Surrey residents are adhering to the government’s guidelines to stay at home to save lives, so a huge thank you to you all.”

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