Lovesick Lancashire lad fined £200 for driving 100 miles to visit his girlfriend

Police had been patrolling a popular Derbyshire beauty spot, Staunton Harold Reservoir, at the weekend when they came across the couple parked up in their car.

Officers quizzed the pair about their reasons for driving to the rural nature reserve during lockdown and were shocked to learn the man had embarked on a 200-mile round trip from Lancashire to visit his girlfriend.

The officers were less than impressed with the "courting couple" and fined the pair £200 each for breaching coronavirus restrictions.

"£200 for a peck in a Peugeot," quipped the force, who shared their bust on social media.

The forlorn lovers were sent packing from the beauty spot, with the man ordered to immediately return home to Lancashire - 104 miles away.

"100-mile journey for a peck in a Peugeot", said West Mercia Police on Twitter.

"A man was fined for making an unpalatable 100-mile-plus non-essential journey from Lancashire to Derbyshire for an encounter with his girlfriend.

"Officers from Melbourne and Mercia Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT) came across the courting couple in the Peugeot at Staunton Harold Reservoir, near the village of Melbourne.

"The male decided to make the staggering 200-mile round trip from Lancashire to spend time with his partner, who lives in Leicestershire.

"Having picked her up from her home in Leicestershire, the thoughtless twosome then travelled on to the well-known beauty spot in Derbyshire.

"But their private moment was interrupted when officers challenged why they were at the reservoir, which closes its doors to the public at 4pm.

"Officers informed the pair that their journey was indeed non-essential and they were not in a support bubble– and were then both handed £200 fixed penalty notices."