NEARLY 700 people have now been fined by Cumbria Police for flouting lockdown.

New statistics place the county in the top ten for the number of fines issued nationally by police.

The force cited people travelling for social gatherings and travelling into the Lake District before those restrictions were relaxed as examples of breaches that led to 686 fines.

Among those to have flouted the rules was a woman in her 40s who travelled more than a mile from her home to to Barrow’s Parade Street to confront someone about a Facebook post, police revealed.

Between March 27 and June 22, 15,856 fixed penalty fines for lockdown breaches were handed out by officers, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

NPCC chair Martin Hewitt said: “Since lockdown restrictions began to ease the number of fines issued has seen a sustained fall across the country.

“Our approach of engaging with the public, explaining the regulations in place and encouraging them to do the right thing will continue.

“Officers have used their common sense and discretion to take in to account people’s individual circumstances.

“We will only enforce as a last resort, against those who are in clear breach of the regulations.

"Behind each fine is a case where someone has failed to listen and do the right thing.”