News

Men drove 80km to "buy burgers" fined due to lockdown breach

Men drove 80km to "buy burgers" fined due to lockdown breach

Three men who drove over 80km to "buy burgers" were some of the dozens of people fined for going outside their 5km zone this week.

Gardaí can now issue on-the-spot penalties -- and the force says patrols and checkpoints enforcing lockdown will be on alert nationwide this weekend.

A few days ago three men set off by car from Co Meath. and made it as far as Ringsend in central Dublin, where they were stopped at a checkpoint at the Sean Moore Road.

Their mission, they told gardaí, was to "buy burgers".

Advertisement

Officers there told them that wasn't a good enough excuse to stray so far from home -- and fined all of them 100 euro each.,

In all, 37 people have been hit with fixed-charge notices for going outside their local areas without good cause since Friday.

In Midleton, Co Cork, a woman was fined after being found at a beach outside her 5km limit, having already been told to turn around and go home.

Two cyclists were stopped in Carrick, near Galway, after their spin took them 19km from home and into the next county.

Advertisement

And in North County Dublin, four people were caught coming out the back entrance of a gym.

They were fined, along with two gym instructors inside who claimed they had to be there to teach online classes because their home internet was broken.

Meanwhile over the weekend, officers in Wicklow handed out over 50 fines over illegal parking at beauty spots.

The force says "significant" checkpoints and patrols will be covering the country this weekend to continue enforcement the pandemic restrictions.

Advertisement