Nine Gloucestershire residents were fined on Monday after breaching lockdown rules.

Gloucestershire police's specialist operations team stopped 66 vehicles during the day with numerous more stopped in the evening.

While many were out with good reason, other excuses included visiting friends, seeing a girlfriend and heading for a takeaway with a large group in the car.

Among those being spoken to by officers were two men who had travelled from Swindon to Matson to buy a car. Just after buying it, the driver of the new car crashed into a garden in Matson. Nobody was injured and officers issued them both with £60 fines.

Inspector Dan Wakeford said: “This incident was clearly an unnecessary drain on resources which wouldn’t have happened if these two men were following the rules.

“We are continuing to engage with motorists and give words of advice wherever possible as most people were out for genuine reasons, including shopping for essential items, working or picking up medication.

“However, Gloucester in particular was unnecessarily busy. The message doesn’t seem to be getting through to everybody and excuses that we heard included visiting friends and going to see girlfriends or boyfriends.

“Please continue to act responsibly as my officers will be out in force on our roads today and in the week ahead.

"And with next weekend being the Easter weekend please remember you should not be travelling anywhere to go on holiday or a day trip."