Police introduce Covid border patrols to stop people from Doncaster travelling to York

North Yorkshire Police are carrying out checks on roads leading into the county and in York – including the A19 bewteen Doncaster and York – to stop Covid-19 rule breakers.

People arriving in York by train could also be stopped by officers and asked where they have travelled from.

Both York and North Yorkshire have been designated Tier 2 in the Government’s coronavirus restrictions system while Doncaster, South Yorkshire and many other areas across Northern England have been dropped into Tier 3.

North Yorkshire Police say it's part of a collective effort to keep people safe and limit the spread of the coronavirus in North Yorkshire and York.

The force is carrying out high-visibility patrols along the force borders to discourage people from neighbouring Tier 3 locations as it increases the risk of infection.

Superintendent Mike Walker, lead for the North Yorkshire Police Covid-19 response said: “The introduction of a new set of regulations for the public and business owners to follow raises inevitable questions about the policing and enforcement of those regulations. So I’d like to be clear and state that North Yorkshire Police’s approach to policing the pandemic remains unchanged.

“It is our responsibility to keep the public of North Yorkshire safe, and we take that responsibility incredibly seriously. It’s what every police officer and member of police staff come to work to do and quite rightly, what the public expect of us.

“So, until the threat this virus poses is eradicated, we will continue to play our part in containing it. We will continue to engage with the public when we are out on patrol in our towns, villages and cities and we will speak to people and explain the regulations and encourage them to adhere to the guidance.

“Enforcement does play a part in our approach. But as we have previously stated, it is taken as a last resort with those who believe that the same rules and regulations which apply to each one of us, don’t apply to them. We all know that it only takes the poor decisions of a few, to jeopardise the hard work and self-sacrifice of many.”