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Coronavirus: Police stop driver on M6 lockdown trip with wife in boot

Couple spotted travelling home with windows bought on eBay for £15

Peter Stubley
Monday 30 March 2020 16:37 BST
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Related video: Boris Johnson urges public to stay home during nationwide lockdown
Related video: Boris Johnson urges public to stay home during nationwide lockdown (REUTERS)

A driver was caught making a 224-mile round trip to pick up a £15 eBay purchase with his wife in the boot of the car.

The motorist ignored lockdown restrictions on ‘non-essential’ travel to collect the bulky windows from Salford in Greater Manchester.

He was on his way home to Coventry when he was stopped by officers on the M6 in Cheshire on Saturday.

“His wife could not fit in the vehicle so she was travelling in the boot for the return journey,” said North West Motorway Police.

The driver was issued with a traffic offence report, which can result in a fine, penalty points or a re-education course.

Officers in the same unit also reported stopping a motorist travelling 112 miles to pick up gym equipment.

They also found a cyclist pedalling along the M60 and a man taking a stroll near a junction of the M62.

“You can leave your home to shop for basic necessities, for example food and medicine, taking exercise or provide care to a vulnerable person travelling for work purposes, but only where they cannot work from home,” the motorway polcie reminded the public on Twitter.

Amid a crackdown on coronavirus-related crime across the UK, police broke up a karaoke party at a house in Normanton, Derbyshire, and charged a 14-year-old boy with coughing on a pensioner in Ashton-under-Lyme, Greater Manchester.

Meanwhile Labour MP Stephen Kinnock was scolded for visiting his father Neil Kinnock on the former Labour leader’s birthday.

After Mr Kinnock tweeted that he and his wife had sat in his parents’ garden for “a socially distanced celebration”, South Wales Police said the visit was “not essential travel” and added: “We urge you to comply with government restrictions, they are in place to keep us all safe.”

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