Fines of £200 have been handed out following house parties in Weston and West Huntspill at the weekend.

A total of 33,525 reports of regulation breaches have been recorded by Avon and Somerset Constabulary since the start of the pandemic, and 423 fixed penalty notices issued.

Forty-four fines have been issued in the past month with officers attending more than 460 breach reports.

Assistant Chief Constable Steve Cullen said: “It’s truly shameful the level of disregard some people continue to show not just for themselves or the law but for other members of society. The vast majority of people have stuck to the rules and follow the guidance in place and we’re extremely grateful for this.

“However, as the weekend’s house parties show, the message doesn’t appear to be getting through to everybody.”

The coronavirus legislation is in place to support the Government’s campaign of saving lives by stopping the spread of a virus.

Officers expect the next few weeks and months to be challenging, as more restrictions come into force later this week.

ACC Cullen added: “We will continue to engage with the public as we have done throughout this crisis, explain the restrictions in place and encourage them to comply.

“But let me be clear, we won’t tolerate flagrant breaches of the regulations.

“We will move more swiftly to enforcement because we simply cannot allow the selfish actions of a few to jeopardise the determined efforts our communities have put in over the past seven months.”

A Covid-19 team is already in place to enforce those who are found in breach of the restrictions.

ACC Cullen said: “The Government have given us an additional £680,000 to directly tackle the pandemic which we have used to set up a dedicated Covid-19 response team.

“This team will concentrate on dealing with reports of breaches coming in and proactively police areas where problems have previously occurred.

“We are fortunate the number of Covid-19 cases in the South West are not as high as some other parts of the UK, but they are rising and we cannot afford to be complacent.”