Eko Hot Blog reports that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), Rishi Sunak, has been fined by the Lancashire Police for failing to wear a seatbelt in the backseat of a moving car.
The police announced the fine in a post on Twitter on Friday.
The Lancashire police said it became aware of the offence after a video of a 42-year-old man circulated on social media.
“Following the circulation of a video on social media showing an individual failing to wear a seat belt while a passenger in a moving car in Lancashire we have today (Friday, Jan 20) issued a 42-year-old man from London with a conditional offer of fixed penalty,” the law enforcement outfit wrote.
Sunak is 42 years old.
In the implicating video he was said to have posted on his official Instagram page, the prime minister is seen addressing UK citizens on how he is delivering on his promise to grow UK’s economy through the Levelling Up Fund.
The British government explains that Levelling Up means creating opportunities for everyone across the UK, with the aim of closing the gap between the rich and the poor.
“Hi. One of my new year’s promises to you was to grow the economy and today, we are announcing the second round of allocations from our Levelling Up Fund and that’s about investing in local areas in order to create jobs and help deliver on that promise to boost growth,” Sunak said.
He became only the second prime minister in history to be hit with a police fine while in the UK’s top job after his predecessor Boris Johnson, who was given a fixed penalty notice after it emerged that he had flouted England’s Covid restriction rules.
It is also the second fixed penalty notice Sunak has received in less than a year. He also paid £50 ($62) when he was serving as finance minister for attending a gathering to celebrate Johnson’s birthday in breach of lockdown rules.
Although the police did not say how much the fine was, in the UK, a person can be fined up to £500 ($619) if they fail to wear a seatbelt unless there is an exception, such as for emergency services, in a taxi, or if a driver is reversing.
A spokesperson for Sunak described this as a “brief error of judgment,” according to Reuters. “He fully accepts this was a mistake and apologises,” they told reporters.
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