Nearly 4,000 people were handed £200 ($250) fines for not wearing masks on London’s public transport system during the UK’s lockdown.
3,996 people were ordered to cough up £200 for not wearing masks on public transport during periods of lockdown in London, figures released on Monday revealed.
The release of the data coincides with the renewed public interest in prolific Lockdown rulebreaking by senior British officials and politicians, with the Sue Gray Report into the so-called “Partygate” scandal being made public on Wednesday.
According to a post on the London government website, nearly 4,000 £200 fines were handed out by officials between the dates of February 24 2021, and January 27 2022. Transport officials also blocked a total of 7,283 people from using the transport network for not wearing a mask.
The release also notes that 2,325 people were told to leave the transport network over their refusal to wear a face covering.
The government also said that while masks are no longer mandatory on public transport services in the UK capital, they are still “strongly encourage[d]”, with the leftist mayor of the city, Labour’s Sadiq Khan, having previously extended forced mask-wearing on London services despite the government deciding to lift general COVID lockdown rules across England.
Reports that thousands of people in London received fines for simply not wearing a mask in the right place are likely not coming at an opportune time for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who faced renewed calls for his resignation after the release of the Sue Gray report into the so-called “Partygate” scandal into widespread COVID rulebreaking in No 10 Downing Street.
While Boris Johnson has already been fined by the police once in relation to breaking his own anti-Chinese Coronavirus measures, the report could result in even more pressure being put on his premiership, as opponents chomp at the bit to call for him to resign his position after even more images of the Conservative Party bigwig emerged which appeared to show him apparently flouting rules.
“Here we have a photograph which looks like the Prime Minister caught red-handed, breaking the rules,” said London Mayor Sadiq Khan after images of the PM at a party in late 2020 were recently leaked by the press.
The leftist politician went on to demand that his own city’s police force explain why Johnson wasn’t fined more than once for what appeared to him to be multiple transgressions.
“There clearly was a party – he was raising his glass, there were empty wine bottles there,” he said. “I think the police should be explaining how they reached their conclusions, that’s the right thing for them to do.”
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