Penalties for breaking coronavirus lockdown restrictions need to be increased and current fines are insufficient for keeping people indoors, a Dyfed-Powys's police and crime commissioner said on Saturday.
"I'm calling personally for the fines given to people to be bigger because I don't think the current guidelines the police have are a great deterrent", said David Llywelyn while speaking to BBC Radio Cymru.
The Plaid Cymru police and crime commissioner said that the police force had been issuing hundreds of penalty notices, but people "aren't listening" and continue to break the lockdown rules.
He also addressed a "loophole" in which the police are finding it difficult to take action against second home owners once they have arrived at their property.
Despite warnings by the authorities to avoid travelling during the Easter weekend, many people have been arriving in the area which covers Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Powys.
On Friday evening, the Pembrokeshire Roads Policing Unit, which is part of the Dyfed-Powys force, reported that it had stopped a man who had driven from Manchester to pick up a dog from Ireland.
It’s just gone midnight and we’re conducting checks on the A477 at St. Clears. The first car stopped is from Manchester, over 200 miles away, the driver states he is going to Ireland to collect a dog. He is turned around and reported, he states he knew he was ‘chancing his luck’. pic.twitter.com/iyXrPulbfO
— Pembrokeshire RPU 🏴 (@PembsRPU) April 11, 2020
They also stopped a car from Cardiff which was carrying cockle picking equipment, despite claims by the drivers that they were picking up rice.
It’s 1am, a vehicle from Cardiff is stopped at Llanteg. The occupants say they’re off to Tenby to collect rice from a friend, however the postcode leads to a beach. The driver opened the boot, within were items linked to cockle picking. Occupants reported & escorted out of Pembs. pic.twitter.com/5lpqyfHaRQ
— Pembrokeshire RPU 🏴 (@PembsRPU) April 11, 2020
The Welsh government may take action against those using second homes as a means to avoid following the restrictions, First Minister Mark Drakeford said on Friday
He also said that if the police request greater powers, they will get them.
"If they think that the penalties are not sufficient we will look at the penalties as well", he said.
While the government says that it has introduced the social distancing measure to stem the spread of coronavirus and prevent an overloading of hospitals and avoidable deaths, critics of the policy have claimed that the forced lockdown measures are are form of tyranny.
Mail on Sunday columnist and writer Peter Hitchens said that the UK approach is disproportionate to the threat it presents while speaking to Politics Joe on Thursday.
"But don't realise the damage that is being done by this shutdown of a large part of the economy for an increasing length of time. Not to mention the threat to personal liberty which is involved in the government taking such tight control of the lives of individuals never previously seen, Hitchens said.
The United Kingdom reported 73,758 confirmed cases of coronavirus as of Saturday and 8,958 deaths.
