Three University of East Anglia students have been fined £10,000 each after throwing a party at a Norwich home attended by about 100 revellers.
Police were called to the address in Bowthorpe Road, Norwich, at around 1.10am on Sunday and broke up the party.
Two women, both 20, and a third woman, 19, who all lived at the address, were fined £10,000 each.
It is the fixed penalty notice for breaking the ban on being involved in holding a gathering of more than 30 people during the coronavirus pandemic.
A police spokesperson said: “Officers were called to reports of a gathering at an address on Bowthorpe Road in Norwich at approximately 1.10am on Sunday October, 11. On arrival officers found up to 100 people attending a party at the address.
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“Officers dispersed the gathering and three occupants at the address, a 19-year-old woman and two 20-year-old women, were issued with the fixed penalty notice for contravening the ban on being involved in holding a gathering of more than 30 people.
“As a police force, we fully appreciate how difficult the past six months have been for the county and we are pleased that the vast of majority of people have played and continue to play their part, following the guidance and legislation helping to protect Norfolk and prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
The spokesperson warned the infection rate was “now rapidly rising across the country” and urged people to “carry on working together to keep everyone safe.”
They added: “Our focus will remain on our use of the 4Es – engaging, explaining, encouraging and then enforcing when required. We all have a role to play in keeping our county safe and yesterday’s gathering was a blatant breach of the Health Protection Regulations. We will all have a role to play in keeping our county safe going forward and we won’t hesitate to take action if needed as yesterday demonstrated.
“We will also continue with our partnership approach, working closely with all our local authorities and Public Health colleagues as well as other sectors.
“We police by consent and we need people and businesses to work with us on this. Our approach will remain the same: engaging with people first, explaining the guidance and law and encouraging people to do the right thing. However, we will not sit back and allow people to deliberately break the law. Where we are left with no choice but to enforce we will do so to protect our communities.
“If members of the public are concerned that the law is being broken or they are experiencing anti-social behaviour, they can report this to us and we will consider the most appropriate response, targeting repeat and high-risk behaviour. We all have a personal responsibility to reduce the spread of coronavirus, and ensure that police enforcement is used only as a last resort. Reports should be made through our online reporting wherever possible.”
A UEA spokesperson said: “We fully support the actions of the police. Students, like everyone else, have to adhere to the law and where there is a breach of the rules they should expect to face the same consequences as others in the community.
“We have issued regular reminders about following the rules to all students both on and off campus and in addition to the police action we will also be looking into this matter and taking appropriate action. In the vast majority of cases our students are behaving responsibly.”
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