Trio caught by police after travelling from Wigan to Lake District

The three people - a man in his 30s, a man in his 20s and a woman in her 20s - were stopped on the A593 in Ambleside at 7.30pm on April 19.

They were found to have travelled up from Wigan for sight-seeing.

The group were some of more than 100 people in Cumbria fined for flouting coronavirus lockdown rules between March 13 and April 27.

In Greater Manchester more than 150 fines have been handed to people for allegedly flouting Covid-19 lockdown laws.

Police forces have been given powers to hand out a £60 penalty, reduced to £30 if paid within two weeks, for breaches of the lockdown rules.

Data published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council shows 171 fixed penalty notices were recorded by Greater Manchester Police between March 27 and April 27.

More than 9,000 fines were handed to people across England and Wales during the month-long period – a figure which the NPCC said represents around 0.02 per cent of the population.

Deputy Chief Constable Sara Glen said a “vast majority” of fines enforced nationally are a result of residents not complying, being out in public spaces without excuse and ignoring police advice.

Ms Glen said: "The vast majority of the fines that we’re seeing enforced are people actually not complying, being out in public spaces where they don’t have a reasonable excuse to do so, not listening to the officers’ advice in respect of engaging and explaining to the extent where the officer then has to issue a ticket to secure compliance.

“There are some definite correlations when it gets hot and where we see troublesome spots.”

NPCC chairman Martin Hewitt said police will face a different challenge when regulations are relaxed and more people are allowed out of their homes.

“I think it’s inevitable that people will get restless. This is now quite an extended period of time,” he said.

“This is hard on everybody adapting their lives.

“Over the weekend we sensed across the country a little bit more traffic on the roads and a few more people out and about.

“But having said all of that, we are still seeing the same level of compliance from people.”