Almost half of lockdown fines – totalling nearly £17 million – remain unpaid and are crippling those liable for them, it is reported, as lawyers call for an amnesty. ITV News has the story.
Lawyers are calling for an amnesty on lockdown fines, as figures obtained by ITV News reveal that tens of thousands remain unpaid.
In total, 124,771 fines had been issued up to October of this year for violation of pandemic rules.
But almost half – 54,122 – were not paid, totalling £16.7 million in fines.
Some individuals owe more than £10,000, with their cases pursued through the courts and via bailiffs.
In Manchester, we met Xen Watts, who was a student at Leeds University during the pandemic.
He posted on Facebook inviting people to a ‘socially distanced’ snowball fight, which was captured on video and shared on social media.
Xen was fined £10,000 but says he has been unable to pay.
“For the last few years it’s just been a constant stress on my mental health, which is getting worse because the threats and the pressure to pay is getting worse,” he said.
The vast majority of Covid fines were issued to young people, with students and ethnic minorities disproportionately affected.
Two days before we interviewed Xen, bailiffs had visited his home.
“I would rather the first thing on my mind not be ‘is someone going to take my things or imprison me?’ it’s not a nice thing to think,” he said.
While Xen is left owing thousands of pounds, there is anger at the comparison with Downing Street, where those embroiled in partygate were fined just £50.
In Welwyn Garden City, Toriano Reid was fined £14,300 for a mistake made by someone else he was living with.
He had been working at the local supermarket and was not at the illegal gathering held in his garden, but because the house was in Toriano’s name he was the recipient of the fine.
Bailiffs have continued to chase him for the money, and even recently clamped his car.
Almost four years on Toriano has lost his family home, his partner and at times even his will to live.
“I didn’t know where to get the money, I work like everyone else. I’ve got no savings. I genuinely don’t know what to do,” he said.
“I could work until I was blue in the face and it still wouldn’t be enough,” he added.
Toriano has set up a crowd funding page to help him pay the fine.
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I think I feel sick.
Amnesty on lockdown fines? How about this legalised mafia filth give us all the money back they have stolen? All the taxes they threaten us into paying to do with what the hell they want, all our money they used to bail their mates at the banks out, so they can turn round and give us the middle finger, all the stealth taxes, the fines for this and that. They are a criminal cartel that’s taking the p*ss out of us. How do we show our disgust? Most will just moan and obediently pay every penny that’s being extorted from them.
Normally I think US gun laws are insane but this is actually making me want an AR15 assault rifle. Our political system and their mandate to govern us utterly smashed beyond recognition. And to top it all, their ‘Covid inquiry’ – a masterclass in gaslighting that Harold Shipman would be proud of.
This has got to end. Our political class are now a parasitic malignant cancer on society.
A f*ckn men.
“Our political class are now a parasitic malignant cancer on society.”
Poetry.
There was a very good reason for the right to bear arms in the 2nd US Constitution, as we are now witnessing. Unarmed, a citizenry is defenceless against tyranny. As the Jews found out in Germany.
All lockdown fines must be repaid with an apology and compensation for any additional losses caused as a consequence of the fines. All punishments were artificially contrived by those that have a pathological desire to control people. £10,000 is an insane amount of money for not obeying pointless orders. There was/is zero evidence that anyone died as a consequence of meeting with other people.
There is no evidence because it didn’t happen; the fines were punishment for daring to go about your life.
The word “amnesty” implies these poor people did something wrong.
Let’s say it how it is – they are innocent victims of a totalitarian regime.
They should have read Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago. Then they would have known to do the 21st Century’s equivalent of climbing quickly out through the bedroom window and disappearing to a different city, instead of politely opening their front door at 3am to assist the authorities with their “enquiries”.
This is the equivalent of a state-sanctioned punishment beating: a Government which allows it to carry on is no better than the thugs who did Hitler’s dirty work for him.
Our political class disgust me.