His mistake cost him (very) dearly. In the United Kingdom, a 19-year-old student was fined 10,000 pounds for hosting a party that gathered about 50 people on Friday, September 11, at his home located in the city of Nottingham, central England.
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According to the student, Stuart Hawk, he threw the party to celebrate two of his friends' birthdays. But things got out of hand when about 50 people showed up to the house the young man lives in with five roommates. As a reminder, gatherings of more than 6 people are prohibited in England, in an effort to fight against another wave of COVID-19.
"Taking responsibility for our actions"
As his get-together continued into the evening, neighbours began to reach out to the police, who showed up to Stuart's house shortly after. 'This party was a clear example of a householder who deliberately flouted the rules without a care for anyone else and as a result we have used the full powers we have to deal with this,' said Steve Cooper of Nottinghamshire Police.
As we have demonstrated here we are not afraid to use the full powers we have and we will not tolerate those who are deliberately put other people’s lives in danger, insisted the policeman. We need to all remember we are very much still in the middle of a global pandemic and we all need to take responsibility for our actions.
A letter of apology
In a letter of apology to his neighbours that was shared with the Daily Mail, Stuart explains: 't was never our intention to disrupt your evening. It was a major lapse in judgment on our end given both the disturbance we caused as well as the current pandemic that is taking a toll on our society.'
With two housemates turning 21 recently, we were hoping to have a celebration that stayed within the guidelines of the current COVID-19 regulations, however, it quickly became out of hand as more than the initial 25 invited friends arrived at our home, he goes on.
And English party boys and girls are going to have to be even more careful in the coming weeks. COVID-19 measures will continue to strengthen with time.
