Women who were fined £200 for walking five miles from home clash with former police officer

11 January 2021, 13:16

Women fined £200 for walk clash with police officer on This Morning

By Alice Dear

The two girls were fined for travelling too far from their local area amid the lockdown.

Two women that were fined £200 each for walking five miles from their home clashed with former police officer Norman Brennan on today's This Morning as they debated the events that transpiried.

Talking to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield on the hit morning show, the women explained that they had both driven in separate cars to a reservoir for a socially distanced walk.

Jessica and Eliza were fined £200 each because they had travelled too far for a socially distanced walk. Picture: ITV

The girls had taken a 10 minute drive to the open space to avoid the busy walking areas in their town, which they had seen posted about online.

When they arrived, Jessica and Eliza were both issued a £200 fine for breaching lockdown rules because they had travelled too far.

Appearing on This Morning, former police officer Norman Brennan told the two women that the police are trying to "save lives" and that it is "part of their job".

Norman said the police are trying to 'save lives'. Picture: ITV

Holly questioned whether the police had been too "heavy handed" in this case, especially with other parks across England being filled with people over the weekend.

Speaking on the show, Norman explained: "What we've got to realise is that coronavirus is actually killing people, it's not killing five or ten people, it's killing so far just over 80,000 people."

Holly Willoughby questioned whether the police had been too 'heavy handed' with the girls. Picture: ITV

Eliza said she felt the police's goal was to fine her and Jessica, telling Holly and Phil: "I think ultimately their goal was to issue us with a fine, they were looking to find information that they could justify that we had broken the rules."

However, Norman said: "The police are caught in the middle of all of this", before explaining that this is not a "money making initiative" it is a "lifesaving initiative".

Phillip went on to say that the Government should clearly outline what 'local' means in order for people to understand the rules better.

The current guidelines state that you can leave home to exercise by yourself, with your household, support bubble or on your own with one other person.

However, this should be limited to once a day and you should not travel outside your "local area".

Norman continued to defend the police's fine, saying: "The police are trying to save lives, it's part of their job".

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