Sunday, 6 Oct 2024

Couple mistakenly fined for posting old vacation photos during coronavirus lockdown

Australian authorities thought they nabbed coronavirus lockdown violators — only to find out the photos posted on social media were a year old.

A South Australian couple was hit with a hefty fine from cops for nonessential travel amid the pandemic after the pair posted old vacation snaps on Facebook, according to a report.

Garry and Jaz Mott, from Victoria, were going through photos at home on April 5 when they decided to share pictures from a 2019 trip they took to a coastal town in eastern Victoria — prompting cops to show up their door four days later, The Independent reported.

The husband and wife were fined the equivalent of $1,000 each by state police for “going for a drive to Lakes Entrance,” which was deemed a violation of the country’s strict lockdown.

The couple was warned that if they “posted any more photos” they would “be arrested,” Jaz Mott told the publication.

The official violation was “failure to comply with a direction given to a person in the exercise of a power under an authorization given under section 199,” according to the outlet.

The police eventually owned up to the misunderstanding and revoked the fine.

“This incident has been reviewed and the decision has been made to withdraw the infringement notice,” a Victoria police spokesperson told The Independent.

“On occasion, errors will be made however that is why a review process exists to ensure instances such as these are identified and rectified.”

The fine-happy police also denied they were Facebook stalking residents to find lockdown rulebreakers.

“Police are not specifically monitoring social media accounts to identify breaches of the Chief Health Officer directives,” said the spokesperson. “In general, police will follow up and investigate the circumstances surrounding individual potential breaches reported by the public.”

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