University of Nottingham student Stuart Hawk, 19, has apologised after being issued a £10,000 fine for flouting coronavirus restrictions.
Police were called to a house in Lenton on Friday (Sep 11) to disband a party of 50 people.
Nottinghamshire police issued the UoN politics student and party organiser with a £10,000 fine, the maximum financial penalty for breaching new COVID-19 restrictions.
Stuart Hawk has since apologised for the incident and, along with his housemates, have written apologies to neighbours.
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Hawk told MailOnline: “We don’t want to talk about what happened. It has all been a big shock. Of course we would all like to apologise to any neighbour who might have been offended.”
The students involved did not disclose who would be paying the fine but a source suggested the students would split the fine between them.
One of the students involved said: “We had invited 25 people and it was out in the garden and aimed to end at 11pm and we were trying to social distance but then people invited their mates and so on.
“It got out of hand and we are really sorry.”
Police said that if Hawk fails to pay the fine he could appear before a court.
Assistant chief constable Steve Cooper from the Nottinghamshire police said: “Under current rules we can issue fines to anyone hosting gatherings of more than 30 people which can result in fines of up to £10,000.”
“We need to all remember we are very much still in the middle of a global pandemic and we all need to take responsibility for our actions.”
He added: “This party was a clear example of a householder who deliberately flouted the rules without a care for anyone else and as a result we have used the full powers we have to deal with this.”
This comes after 3,330 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in the last 24 hours, including 32 in the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire area.
By Faith Pring
Feature image credit: Google Maps (insert: Pixabay)
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