Cornwall Council has fined a licensed premises £1,000 after six people were caught drinking alcohol inside and ignoring social distancing rules.

When questioned by officers from Devon and Cornwall Police who attended the premises, the men said they had been carrying out some maintenance work and had been disposing of out of date alcohol in preparation for reopening.

However, the group decided to consume the alcohol rather than throwing it away, therefore breaching Covid regulations.

The incident occurred on April 9th. Under the restrictions in force at the time, licensed premises were closed and could not allow individuals to consume alcohol on the premises.

After liaising with the police, Cornwall Council issued the business a fixed penalty notice which carries a £1,000 fine. The business has 14 days to appeal the notice.

Sarah-Jane Brown, Senior Environmental Officer at Cornwall Council, said:

"We are supporting businesses across Cornwall to reopen safely as the restrictions are eased.

"Most businesses are working hard to ensure they are keeping their staff and customers safe and operating within the law.

"If businesses do not comply, they are potentially putting people and lives at risk and we will not hesitate to take action against them."

Since the start of the pandemic, Cornwall Council has taken formal enforcement action against 12 businesses for Covid breaches.

Fixed penalty notices have been issued against four of those businesses after they flagrantly breached the business closure restrictions and put communities at risk of harm.

Licensed premises were able to open from April 12th for outside service.

The premises has not been named as they are invited to appeal the decision.