PCSOs 'threaten to fine parents of children who break the rule of six'

23 October 2020, 06:00 | Updated: 23 October 2020, 09:00

Police reportedly threatened to issue fines to a group of parents whose children broke the rule of six while waiting to be picked up from school.

Pupils from St Anne's Catholic School in Southampton were waiting for their parents at a nearby park following the school's 2.25pm finish on Wednesday when they were approached by police community support officers who warned their parents could be slapped with £200 fines.

According to No10 the rule of six does include children.

A spokesman for the PM said last month: "The Rule of Six is clear, it includes children. We are asking people not to meet in groups of six or more.'They added: 'It is correct parents will be fined if children meet in groups of more than six children."

The school's headteacher James Rouse told the Daily Mail that everyone must abide by the rules and 'this extends to young people as well as adults'.

Why are PCSOs threatening children with fines over rule of six?

He said: "The PCSOs were warning us that they would impose fines in future if students were failing to follow the rule of six.

"We understood the message to mean that they were fining students that they had asked to disperse yesterday.

"They wanted us to simply remind parents and students of the rule of six and that there was always the risk of fines for people congregating in a group larger than that. 

"There was some initial misunderstanding and communication by the school that fines had been given, whereas it was quickly understood that, in fact, they had not. We corrected that with parents this morning."