UK Police Break Up Baby Showers, Car Meets During COVID Lockdown Enforcement

Metropolitan Police officers responding to reports of a large gathering arrived at a property on Elm Park Avenue in Hornchurch, east London, at around 6pm on a Sunday to find 20 people seated around a table covered with food, a pink balloon arch decorating one end of the room. Body-worn footage released by Scotland Yard captured the moment officers entered, quizzed guests about who lived at the address, and warned the entire group they could each face a £200 fixed penalty notice.

The two men who organised the event, aged 22 and 44, were both reported for breaking lockdown rules and face £200 fines each. The remaining attendees, who ranged in age from young children and teenagers to people in their late 40s, were advised to leave the premises. All had come from different households, placing the gathering squarely in violation of restrictions banning most indoor meetings between people from separate homes. Baby showers carry no exemption under the rules; by contrast, funerals can be attended by as many as 30 people under the same lockdown framework.

A force statement warned: "A gathering like this can have tragic consequences for all those involved and risks spreading this terrible virus to our loved ones and the wider community. Please have no doubt, we are determined to deal robustly with those who breach the Covid regulations in this way."

The Hornchurch raid was one of several enforcement actions across England and Wales in the same period. In Swansea, South Wales Police attended an indoor gathering in the Penlan area of the city, issuing 20 fixed penalty notices for breaching coronavirus regulations. Media reporting indicated that South Wales Police staff were among the guests at what was believed to be a baby shower, though the force confirmed it was not known whether any of those employees were among the 20 who received notices. The force was explicit on one point: none of the staff present were serving police officers.

In Hampshire, officers took a more tactical approach, blocking off the car park at Blacknest Industrial Estate in Alton on a Saturday evening after discovering a large unauthorised gathering. Twenty-six people were fined for attending a car meet that drew drivers in BMWs, Nissans and Toyotas from as far away as Shropshire, Kent, Surrey and Berkshire. A force spokesman noted that people inside the vehicles were from different households and many were not wearing face coverings.

Hampshire Police Superintendent Phil Lamb did not spare words in his assessment: "Some of those people that officers spoke to accepted personal responsibility, but others were extremely defensive. It's shocking that such a large number of people have completely ignored the current lockdown, thereby putting themselves and their loved ones at risk from the virus. It's reckless actions like this that place increased and unnecessary pressure on the NHS."

The enforcement picture was complicated further by breaches within police ranks. Nine Metropolitan Police officers were fined £200 each after members of the public spotted them eating breakfast together inside a London café. Separately, 31 officers at Bethnal Green police station were each issued £200 fixed penalty notices after a professional barber was brought in to cut hair on January 17; the two officers who organised the arrangement are now under investigation for misconduct.