Three friends from Oxford were fined by police after driving 21 miles to a Cotswold town.

Their journey from Oxfordshire to Stow-on-the-Wold was deemed to have contravened lockdown rules.

Each person was fined £200 for the village day trip.

A tweet from Cotswolds Police said: "Officers stated that they had no reasonable excuse to be in a car together so far from home."

This latest incident comes after more than 50 tourists were spoken to by police in the North Cotswolds on Sunday.

The fine is one of hundreds issued by Gloucestershire police since the start of the pandemic.

However, in contrast Thames Valley Police have handed out almost 1,000 fines since the restrictions came into force in March 2020.

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Notices were issued by the force covering everything from not wearing a mask to mass gatherings, according to data from the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC).

The data also shows that 32,329 fines, which can range anywhere from £60 to £10,000, were given by all forces in England and Wales under coronavirus regulations between March 27 and December 20.

80 per cent of these fines were given to those aged between 18 and 39.

In the Government guidelines it states that people must stay at home and only leave the house where necessary.

You can leave your house to shop for basic necessities, for you or a vulnerable person, go to work if you cannot work from home, exercise with your household, meet your support bubble, to seek medical assistance or to attend education or childcare.

It also outlines on the Government website that if you do leave home for a permitted reason, you should always 'stay local' - unless it is necessary to go further, for example to go to work.

It further explains that stay local means stay in the village, town, or part of the city where you live.