Five people travelling in a car from Suffolk to Norwich have been handed fines by Norfolk Constabulary for breaching coronavirus lockdown rules.

The five fines made up half of all penalty notices handed out in Norfolk in the first week of the second lockdown.

The fines ranged between £100 and £200 per person, with the other notices given to someone who refused to wear a face covering, and the other four to people who had visited others houses in breach of the rules.

MORE: Extent of lockdown fines in Suffolk revealed

In Suffolk, police were alerted to Covid-19 rule breaches 5,879 times between March 27 and October 7 – more than half of which occurring in April.

Last month, before the nationwide lockdown was enforced, the constabulary received 12 reports of people breaking Tier 1 guidelines.

In all, 291 fines were handed out between March and October – although the latest figures on fines have yet to be made available.

Speaking earlier this week, a Suffolk police spokesman said: “We all need to show restraint, discipline and common sense over the coming month – this is a public health emergency where a collective responsibility is needed to respect each other’s concerns.

“It is imperative people comply with the new measures to prevent the NHS being overwhelmed and to ensure lives are saved. We all need to work together to protect our NHS and other public services, not just the police.

“Police will engage with people sensibly, proportionately, fairly, and using the well-established 4Es approach of engaging, explaining and encouraging. Any enforcement has always been a last resort.”