Police in Wales have found themselves having to defend a photo that they Tweeted showing 2 officers on a train doing ‘spot checks’ on passengers.

Under the rules of the ‘firebreak’ lockdown non-essential travel is banned with the rule being bought in on Friday and running until the 9th November. British Transport Police North Wales posted the photo on their Twitter account with the heading “We are checking if your journey is essential! Please stay at home!”

However, some social media users deemed it as “dystopian” causing a backlash against the police. At this point BTP North Wales deleted their comment and photo and issued a statement to the media site saying “Right folks – the last tweet generated a fair amount of comment so let’s put a few things straight. Wales is on lockdown. You should not be out without a reasonable excuse.

It is our job to enforce the current regulations. We did this throughout the previous lockdown too. This means asking why people are travelling.” Figures released on Saturday show that a further 1,324 people in Wales tested positive for the virus which brings the total number of positive cases to 41,577. Welsh Public Health said that 16 people had died and the total number of deaths since the start of the pandemic had risen to 1,772.

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