Officers attended 41 reports of Covid-19 legislation breaches across the Avon and Somerset policing area from yesterday into today (November 5), both before and after the new lockdown regulations came into force.

Dedicated units supported patrolling teams to respond to incidents in a number of places including Wells.

The new dedicated Covid-19 units supported patrolling teams to respond to incidents and reported breaches in areas including Frome, Glastonbury, Little Stoke, Radstock, Watchet, Wellington, Wells, Yate and Yeovil.

Some cases were found not to be breaches while most of the rest were dealt with by engaging, explaining and encouraging people to comply.

Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Cullen said: "The vast majority of people are sticking to the rules and following the guidance that's in place and we're extremely grateful for this.

"We are fortunate the number of Covid-19 cases in the South West are not as high as some other parts of the UK, but they are rising and we cannot afford to be complacent.

"The coronavirus legislation is in place to save lives and stop the spread of a virus which has claimed the lives of more than 46,000 people in the UK.

"We will continue to engage with the public as we have done throughout this crisis, explain the restrictions in place and encourage them to comply.

"But we won't tolerate flagrant breaches of the regulations. We will move more swiftly to enforcement because we simply cannot allow the selfish actions of a few to jeopardise the determined efforts our communities have put in over the past seven months."

He added that the Government have given Avon and Somerset Police an additional £680,000 to directly tackle the pandemic which we have used to set up a dedicated Covid-19 response team.