POLICE will carry out spot checks on drivers to make sure they aren’t flouting coronavirus restrictions to see their lovers on Valentine’s Day.
Lockdown rules ban mixing with people from other households unless you live alone and have formed a support bubble with another household.
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People can travel to take exercise, but must stay local.
Today people driving into London will be stopped and asked for the reason for their travels, according to MailOnline.
A MET police source said: “I’m going to be spending my Valentine’s Day ruining people’s Valentine’s Days.”
He then joked that cops could end up asking male motorists: “Is that your wife, sir?”
But they added: “Most police officers are loath to hand out fines.
“If people apologise then they will mostly get off with a warning.”
‘HEAVY HANDED’
Sir Ian Duncan Smith, the former Conservative party leader, said the plan was “heavy-handed.”
He explained: “If people are just having a quiet Valentine’s Day, why should we be stopping them? We’re not a police state.”
Last week a lockdown Romeo was slapped with a £200 fine after a 200-mile round trip to see his girlfriend “for a peck in a Peugeot”.
He travelled from Lancashire to Leicestershire to pick up his partner before they drove to a reservoir in Derbyshire, police said.
The courting couple were interrupted by cops who asked why they were at the Staunton Harold Reservoir beauty spot, which closes to the public at 4pm.
Officers hit both of them with a £200 fixed penalty notice.
In December, a lovesick roofer was jailed for crossing the Irish Sea on a jet ski to visit his girlfriend.
Dale McLaughlan, 28, said he felt like a “crappy James Bond” after his “crazy” 27-mile trip from Irvine, Scotland, to see Jessica Radcliffe on the Isle of Man.
The pair had met weeks earlier when he was working on the island, but Dale forked out £5,500 for a jet ski so he could surprise her with Christmas presents.
He set out on December 11 believing it would take just 45 minutes on the 52mph machine.
Four and a half hours later he finally arrived at Ramsey harbour with just ten minutes of fuel left after the veering off course and losing his GPS device.
Cops arrested him – and he was jailed for breaking Covid rules, before finally being released three days early in time for Christmas.
