Cumbria police have revealed that more than 700 fines were issued for breaches of Covid-19 regulations in the county during the last seven months.

New figures show that 740 fixed penalty notices were handed out by officers between March 27 and October 19.

The force also revealed that the biggest reason for fines being issued was due to would-be holidaymakers travelling to Cumbria’s beauty spots during the early summer months – when the country was under a strict lockdown.

“The vast majority of the fixed penalty notices issued during the pandemic were during the summer months when a national lockdown had been implemented,” said a force spokesman.

“Laws were introduced which, among other restrictions, prevented people from staying away from their home address overnight.”

Cumbria police said that as a "tourist hotspot", officers had seen many examples of people ignoring restrictions and attempting to enter the county to camp and stay overnight.

“Tourist hotspot areas like Cumbria were particularly impacted by this, with people ignoring the restrictions in place at the time to travel to the county to camp and stay overnight,” the spokesman added.

However, as restrictions have eased so have the amount of fines being issued, although police have had to hand out fines to licensed premises for breaking the 10pm curfew and to people holding large gatherings at their homes.

“In recent weeks and months the number of fixed penalty notices issued has been significantly lower as restrictions were eased and then less restrictive regulations brought in.

“However, there have been a number of Fixed Penalty Notices issued in recent weeks to those who have breached regulations, including licensed premises and people entertaining large gatherings at their home,” said the spokesman.

Cumbria police wished to reiterate that the vast majority of Cumbrians have complied with Covid-19 regulations and expressed their gratitude to the public for helping to curb the virus’ spread.

The spokesman added: “We would reiterate, however, that the overwhelming majority of people in the county have complied with the regulations in place at any given time and we continue to be grateful to those who continue to respect the current efforts to reduce the spread of infection.”