Close to $17,000 in COVID-19 fines issued in Surrey last week

Apr 14 2021, 6:22 pm

Close to $17,000 in COVID-19 violation fines were issued by Surrey RCMP last week.

Police say that 18 tickets were issued for non-compliance with public health orders, the majority of which were large gatherings. Between April 7 and 11, they attended five different homes after “complaints of large gatherings.”

One of the gatherings was a wedding at a residence in Newton, with more than 22 people in attendance. The host of this gathering was given a $2,300 violation ticket for hosting the non-compliant event.

Police also attended a restaurant on the 9400 blocks of 120 Street where they found “people dining inside the restaurant contrary to the current PHOs.” In addition to a violation ticket being issued, this was also the second time that the establishment had been caught breaking the rules.

Another incident included saw officers respond to reports of a man who refused to wear a mask at a store on the 7300 blocks of King George Boulevard.

“Officers attended and spoke with the man in the parking lot where he was uncooperative with police and continued to cause a disturbance,” Surrey RCMP said in a statement. “He was issued violation tickets for failing to wear a face covering, failing to comply with direction, and for abusive and belligerent behaviour.”

Surrey RCMP COVID-19 Compliance and Enforcement Team Sergeant Tyler Wickare noted that they’ve seen the number of people and businesses ignoring public health orders “creeping up.”

“Especially with sunny weather now here, it can be very inviting to gather with others, so we are reminding everyone that public health orders are still in effect limiting gatherings, even outdoors,” he says.

Earlier this week, Fraser Health announced that first responders in Surrey and White Rock would be given COVID-19 vaccinations, in order to curb the ongoing transmission. Some TransLink workers were made eligible too, following COVID-19 clusters at two different transit centres.

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