OVER the Bank Holiday weekend, Essex Police have spoken to 1,595 residents or visitors to the county about appropriate journeys or social distancing and only had to issue eight penalty notices, Assistant Chief Constable Andy Prophet has announced.

ACC Prophet had words of praise for his force and told his officers: "Engage explain, encourage before enforce. Keep it up Essex. Thank you."

And he had a broader message to the wider community saying: "Well done Essex for continuing to follow Social Distancing rules. Thank you."

Lockdown rules state police can issue a fixed penalty notice of £60, which will be lowered to £30 if paid within 14 days.

They can also issue a fixed penalty notice of £120 for second time offenders, doubling on each further repeat offence.