Police officers have warned stopping people living in tier four areas travelling over Christmas will be ‘unenforceable’.

It comes as 18 million people across the South East have been ordered to ‘stay at home’ over Christmas and are not seeing rules temporarily lifted so they can mix in bubbles.

But police say they have little power to enforce the new restrictions and will not be closing roads over the festive season.

‘There won’t be an awful lot we can do if lots of people hit the roads on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day. We won’t be closing roads to prevent it,’ a senior police source told The Telegraph.

Police have warned people will lie to officers and say they are travelling under one of the exemptions, which include work or essential travel for food.  

Ken Marsh, chairperson of the Met Police Federation, added: ‘I would accept there is legislation put in place but as a police officer who has been doing the job for a long time, it’s not enforceable.

‘Your functionality to perform your duty is nigh on impossible if they don’t tell you the truth. If they think they are going to get a fine, they won’t tell you the truth.’ 

It comes as masked officers were seen patrolling major stations in London including King’s Cross, St Pancras, Waterloo and Euston over the weekend.

Hundreds of Londoners attempted to flee the capital after the whole city was plunged into tier four restrictions amid the spread of a mutant strain of coronavirus.

Health secretary Matt Hancock admitted the new variant is ‘out of control’ and hit out at ‘totally irresponsible’ Londoners who crowded onto trains to escape the capital on Saturday night.

He told people to ‘unpack their bags’ and ‘reduce social contact’ as he hinted the tier four restrictions could be in place for months while the Government rolled out its mass vaccination programme. 

He said ‘of course’ police will enforce the new law and will prevent people from travelling, as transport secretary Grant Shapps warned police will ‘ensure that only essential journeys take place’.

But Mr Marsh told Sky News officers are still unclear on how they are supposed to enforce the new restrictions as they have not yet received instructions.

‘This is not a criticism, it’s just reality – the changes in law over the weekend, my colleagues still haven’t received the guidance on what’s expected of them,’ he said.

‘And that’s nothing new throughout the pandemic, that the law has been changed very rapidly and the guidance generally comes a few days later.

‘But my colleagues will be doing what they have been doing – they’ll be using their common sense and striking a sensible balance.’

The Met Police warned the ‘most dangerous and flagrant breaches’ of tier four regulations now in force will see fines given out, tweeting: ‘Don’t risk a fine in the lead up to Christmas.’

Under the new tier four rules non-essential shops – as well as gyms, cinemas, casinos and hairdressers – have to stay shut and people are limited to meeting one other person from another household in an outdoor public space.

Those in tier four were told they should not travel out of the region, while those outside were advised against visiting.

In the rest of England, Christmas easing has been severely curtailed, with households allowed to gather for just one day – Christmas Day itself – rather than the five days previously planned.

Scotland and Wales are also restricting Christmas ‘bubbles’ to a single day, while people in Northern Ireland have been asked to consider forming a bubble for Christmas Day only.

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