Four people have so far been fined for breaching coronavirus travel quarantine rules, new figures from England and Wales show.

Only one person has been fined by police, while UK Border Force have dished out three penalties to those arriving back into England and Wales.

The single police fine for breaking quarantine rules was handed out by Lincolnshire Police, and was one of just eight fixed penalty notices in total handed out by forces across England in relation to coronavirus regulations in the two weeks to 20 July.

Chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Martin Hewitt said the enforcement of the rules, which carries fines of up to £1,000, is primarily down to Border Force and public health authorities – but added that compliance with the rulings had been good.

However, Mr Hewitt warned that “it’s really difficult to understand how people will respond”, after travellers from Spain were suddenly told they had to quarantine over the weekend.

“You would hope that people would come back and be responsible,” he said.

“I would hope they would be, but we will be in a position to carry out the role that we have in this, which is a secondary role to both the border force and Public Health England, as we are required to do so.

“But I guess time will tell how that plays through.

“And of course, you know it’s not inconceivable that this could happen with other countries as we move forward, and I think the government has made clear about that as well, so we will monitor that and work through the process.”

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