A wedding with at least 22 people was among the groups ticketed between April 7 and 11 by the Surrey RCMP.
Police issued 18 tickets totalling just under $17,000 between April 7 and 11, according to a press release, noting the majority of tickets were due to groups gathering outside of the pandemic regulations. As the weather gets nice it seems the issue is growing according to Sgt. Tyler Wickware of the detachment's COVID-19 Compliance and Enforcement Team.
Our officers have recently seen the number of people and businesses ignoring public health orders creeping up,
he says in the release.
One of these large gatherings was the aforementioned wedding on April 7, where the host was fined $2,300 for hosting the event which saw "over 22 people" in attendance, according to the Surrey RCMP. Current Public Health Officer regulations allow for a maximum of 10 people at an outdoor gathering.
A restaurant owner also received a ticket after police found people dining inside the restaurant on April 10, which is against current pandemic regulations.
"This was the second violation for this establishment, as such; Fraser Health authorities were also notified," state the RCMP in the release.
And on the next day, April 11, a man was fined after not wearing a mask in a store along the 7300-block 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," state police. "He was issued violation tickets for failing to wear a face covering, failing to comply with direction, and for abusive and belligerent behaviour."
