Arrest after off road event in Wrexham – Minister says he would “certainly not consider it to be a reasonable excuse” for travel to attend such events

The Health Minister Vaughan Gething has indicated outdoor events can be possible in areas of local lockdown, but has said it would not be a ‘reasonable excuse to travel from outside of county’ to an event such as one held yesterday in Wrexham.

One person has been arrested and another reported following an off road event involving 4×4 vehicles in Llwyneinion Woods in the Rhos yesterday.

Police attended the site and say they used “the four E’s approach to Covid 19 regulations, of Engage, Encourage, and Explain and as a last resort Enforce, dealt with the gathering. The participants dispersed once officers spoke to them.”

Police say the landowner has been reported for Covid 19 offences, one motorist was arrested for drug driving and another man is being dealt with for drug-related matters.

Inspector Mike Norbury said, “This event was a clear breach of the Covid 19 regulations. People who attended must have been aware of what they can and cannot do.”

“We are determined to protect the local community and although our approach is always to engage and explain to people what they should be doing, we will take robust enforcement action when necessary.”

The arrested man has been released under investigation.

Cllr Hugh Jones, Lead Member for People – Communities, Partnerships Public Protection and Community Safety, at Wrexham Council said, “I would like to thank North Wales Police for acting quickly and effectively here.

“It is clear that gatherings such as this will not be tolerated and appropriate action will be taken.

“The rules are very clear and it is all of our responsibility to make sure that we are aware of them and, more importantly, stick to them.”

On the event’s Facebook page last night the organisers said, “Despite spending a lot of time ensuring we had dotted all the I’s and crossed all the T’s regarding the current Coronavirus Legislation and recently introduced Local Lockdown Restrictions, there were complaints from locals which resulted in an unexpected Police presence.

“Which did cause some disruption later on in the day, for which we can only apologise!”

“Our COVID-Secure events are fully legal, and in line with current legislation and local lockdown restrictions.

“For those of you that travelled into Wrexham County Borough to work today’s event as Safety Marshals or Recovery Operatives, your travel into the county for work was permitted under the ‘reasonable excuse’ section of local lockdown rules, and information received from another local events company confirmed that the police advise was that travel into the county to attend COVID-Secure events was permitted under the local lockdown rules.”

Today we asked the Health Minister at the daily Welsh Government briefing about the event, which at the time had no reported action by police and had appeared to continue, we enquired if that was the Coronavirus Regulations working as he had hoped, or if not, did the law need changing.

The Minister replied, “People can travel within county, but they need to follow the rules when they do so on social distancing. So it may be possible for events particularly outdoor events to go ahead within that county.”

“But, there should not be cross border travel. I would certainly not consider it to be a reasonable excuse to travel from outside of county with local restrictions for an off road event. People need to think seriously about how they follow the rules not try to distinguish out what is plainly not considered to be within them.”

“We are at a point of real maximum seriousness and risk for the country. I said previously, I think we’re at an equivalent position to February. I think we’re much more now like the end of February, the start of March, we’re seeing a rising tide of cases, we are taking earlier action because our line of sight, our local intelligence about what is happening, our national intelligence picture is much clearer than it was in February and March.

“It is not inevitable that the tide of Coronavirus cases recedes. The cases will rise if people don’t look again how we avoid contacts, minimise the groups of people we are indoors with, with especially to follow those rules on regular washing of hands, maintaining social distancing, and wearing a mask where you should do in accordance with the laws of Wales.”

You can view the Welsh Government briefing in full below, along with the Q&A session

Yn fyw nawr gyda’r Gweinidog Iechyd, Vaughan Gething | Live now with Health Minister, Vaughan Gething https://t.co/IGen44nKfR

— Welsh Government (@WelshGovernment) October 5, 2020