With an unusual justification, six people in England tried to avoid punishment for an illegal party: They neither knew that a pandemic was raging nor the regulations - as they were not following the news.
This was explained by the members of various households of the police in the city of Basingstoke, as reported by British media.
"#ThereAreNoWords" ("There are no words for that") wrote the police about the incident on Twitter.
In Great Britain, strict exit rules apply due to the high number of corona cases.
People are only allowed to leave their homes for urgent reasons such as going to the doctor or commuting to work.
There were several rule violations across the country over the weekend.
A 34-year-old has to pay a fine of 200 pounds (225 euros) for driving more than 100 kilometers from Luton to Devizes.
Allegedly he wanted to get something to eat in a fast food restaurant - but there is no branch of the chain in the town.
In the Greater Manchester area, police broke up a party with 40 guests.
Interior Minister Priti Patel announced a tougher crackdown.
In the fight against the pandemic, it is more effective to enforce the rules than to tighten the rules even further.
In the UK, it is estimated that more than 100,000 people have died with or from Covid-19.
Icon: The mirror
fek / dpa