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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Joe Thomas

Most brazen lockdown flouters from campers to cannabis pick ups and 'boredom' trips

The people of Merseyside have largely respected requests to stay at home to save lives during the coronavirus lockdown.

Merseyside Police chief constable Andy Cooke has been quick to praise the majority who have stuck to the rules and avoided all but essential trips.

And, judging by images released by the force on social media last night, it appears people are continuing to respect the pleas from NHS heroes to protect them by staying in.

But not everyone has complied with social distancing regulations.

While the region is fortunate to have witnessed relatively few rule-breakers, there have been a handful of cases that have caused frustration.

The woman who stocked up on cannabis

A woman told a police officer she broke lockdown so she could buy enough cannabis "to last a week".

Police said she was approached after she appeared to be acting suspiciously on Wednesday evening.

The bag of cannabis seized by Sgt Alan McKeon while patrolling around Birkenhead (Wirral Police)

Sgt Alan McKeon was on foot patrolling around Birkenhead and said: "It was great to see the community on the whole following the Government guidelines and staying at home."

But Sgt McKeon also had to seize a large bag of cannabis from someone not adhering to the guidelines.

A tweet detailing the incident said: "While in Birkenhead town centre this evening, Sgt McKeon stopped a motorist seen acting suspiciously in the area.

"When the driver was searched it turns out that she had been out to buy some cannabis to last her for the next week."

The scrambler bike idiots

One of the features of lockdown has been the battle between reckless off-road bikers taking advantage of quieter roads and the police officers trying to stop them.

A dog walker was sprayed in mud by a scrambler biker in Bidston Village (Liverpool ECHO)

In the past fortnight around 20 bikes have been seized and a series of arrests made as patrols to combat them have been stepped up.

Amid the incidents was a serious crash on Otterspool Promenade, when a biker ploughed into a woman, and this case in Bidston, which saw a yob spray a dog walker with mud.

The not so happy campers

Campers pitch their tent on Bidston village green to the shock of locals (Gaynor Kingsley)

There were bizarre scenes in Wirral this week when a couple set up a six man tent on a village green.

This was also in Bidston and, after several hours, the pair left - leaving one witness to speculate they were trying out their tent-building skills.

Another drugs case

A 33-year-old man was charged with a drug offence and breaching social distancing restrictions after he was spotted on an electric scooter.

The man was spotted in Walton Village while on an electric scooter and was found in possession of four bags of cannabis after a search.

Day-trippers

In one strange case, a family of six were stopped near Windermere by police who noticed them on the Lake District roads.

They had driven 80 miles to be there and were escorted back to the M6.

The man who made his wife sit in the boot

That case was not quite so bizarre as what police discovered on the M6.

(Liverpool ECHO)

A driver ignored the coronavirus lockdown and made a 220-mile round trip to pick up some windows bought on eBay.

The driver travelled from Coventry to Salford and back again to complete the purchase.

He was stopped by police on the M6 in Cheshire, where officers discovered his wife in the boot, because the windows had taken up all the room in the car

House Parties and bordeom

Police were busy in the early hours of one lockdown Sunday morning in Warrington.

Officers stopped a vehicle at 3.57am on Sunday, with a Cheshire Police spokesman explaining: "It emerged the driver and passenger were unknown to each other and had met at a house party that night. They said they were on their way to a garage."

Two minutes earlier, officers had stopped a car containing two men.

The spokesman said: "After engaging with the men officers found that they were not related and were from different households. The pair, who were both from the Stockport area, stated to officers that they had driven to Warrington as they were bored."

And at 4am, a man was stopped in the street and said he was returning from a party.

The spokesman said: "It was explained that he shouldn’t be meeting up with people from other households as it contravened the current legislation."

Woman found slumped in driving seat with vodka

Vodka was seized from a woman found sleeping in the driver's seat of a car during the coronavirus lockdown.

The 49-year-old was found by police officers called to reports a vehicle had allegedly been travelling on the wrong side of the road in Knowsley.

Vodka was seized from a woman found sleeping in the driver's seat of a car during the coronavirus lockdown. (Merseyside Police)

The patrol that responded discovered a woman slumped in a vehicle parked on Waterpark Drive in Stockbridge Village.

Two bottles of vodka were seized from inside the car.

Kids in rooftop stand-off with police

A group of children became involved in a standoff with police after climbing onto a leisure centre roof during the coronavirus lockdown.

Officers were called to Halewood Leisure Centre, on Baileys Lane.

Residents in the area reported seeing a young teens on the roof of the building and became concerned for their safety.

When police arrived at the scene it is believed that the children refused to come down off the building for over an hour, engaging in a standoff with the officers.

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