THREE parents of youths have been issued with Covid fines today, (Friday), following continued Covid breaches and antisocial behaviour near to Sainsbury’s on Westbury Street in Thornaby.

The fines were issued by Stockton Neighbourhood Team after the parents of the youths were previously spoken with and issued warnings about their children breaching the regulations by repeatedly meeting with other youths and causing antisocial behaviour.

The fines are a result of failing to ensure that the children were compliant with current regulations.  

Three initial warnings were also issued to other youths, and their parents will be spoken with.

Stockton Neighbourhood Inspector Jon Willoughby said: “As a Force our aim has been to engage and encourage people to follow the regulations. We carry out enforcement as a last resort, in the hope that people will adhere to the rules once they have been explained.

“However, in this case, warnings had already been issued, parents spoken with and we were left with no choice but to carry out enforcement by issuing fines.

“We had previously warned parents that fines can and will be issued to them if their children continually flout Covid rules and regulations.

“Whilst we are sympathetic to the current situation, breaching Covid rules set out by the Government causes great potential risk to people’s health.

“We will continue to engage and encourage the public to follow the rules as we have been, however, we will enforce if necessary to ensure the people in our communities are protected. We all have a responsibility to help stop the spread of the virus.”