OFFICERS called to reports of a raucous house party were forced to hand out several fines to those in attendance – as stricter policing came into play across the county to tackle coronavirus rule-breakers.

Calls were made to the police on Wednesday night after several people were seen coming and going from a property on Garbett Street in Accrington.

Upon their arrival, officers found around 25 people packed into a terraced house, forcing them to issue fines.

A source told the Lancashire Telegraph: “It looked like police were inside the house looking for people for some time. We were told it was a hen party.

“People are still not taking the coronavirus regulations seriously and are continuing to break the rule of six.”

Over the weekend, 14 fines were dished out to coronavirus rule flouters as the country prepared to be plunged back into lockdown.

The fixed penalty notices were handed out to those hosting parties and gatherings in Lancashire despite warnings from a top police boss to not have ‘one last blow out’ before the new sanctions were imposed from today.

Speaking to BBC Radio Lancashire, deputy chief constable Terry Woods said the force had changed its approach to policing over the last two weeks.

He said: “Ninety-nine per cent of people are trying their very best.

“When we come across those people who have misinterpreted or made a genuine mistake we will just chat to them and educate them.

“But there are small minority of the public out there who for the last six months, have not altered their behaviour. They are trying to use the excuse that they don’t understand but clearly, they do. They are choosing not to adhere to regulations.

“For those people now, whilst before we would have put them in the same pool of educate and advise, we won’t be doing that and we have been going straight to enforcement.

“This weekend we have issued 14 penalty notices including a £1,000 FPN for someone who didn’t isolate when they came back from holiday.”

Figures from the National Police Chiefs’ Council show that since the start of the outbreak 790 fines have been issued to people breaking rules across Lancashire.

And that number is expected to rise again when data for the second half of August is released, given a drive to ensure those who break rules are dealt with more robustly.