Two people who breached coronavirus rules by meeting at a village cricket club for Halloween drinks have been slapped with fines.

Police on patrol in Three Rivers on the evening of Saturday, October 31 saw two intoxicated men entering a cricket clubhouse which appeared to be in darkness, and followed them.

They found a group of more than six people having drinks inside, breaking the rule of six, which was in force at the time.

Yesterday (Wednesday, December 2), two individuals were issued with £200 fines under the coronavirus regulations.

Detective Inspector Stewart Moulding said: “As part of our local response to coronavirus we have officers on additional patrols checking that everyone in our community is following the Covid-19 regulations and at the time of this incident, the rule of six was very well understood by everyone.

“We investigated this incident in case it breached the large gathering regulation but this wasn’t the case, but the fact remains that we cannot turn a blind eye when rules are blatantly broken, and these individuals have been issued with fines.”

He added: “Not following the measures put in place to limit the spread of coronavirus is unacceptable and anyone who knowingly or deliberately break the rules, should expect to receive a fine.”