Only one person in the county was handed a coronavirus fine during the scorching bank holiday weekend.

But while the majority of people were abiding by the rules some were stretching the boundaries, chief constable Kier Pritchard said.

The force’s control room received 68 coronavirus-related calls during the late May holiday weekend.

That is compared to other bank holidays when police has received more than 300 Covid-related calls a day.

Mr Pritchard said: “Of course the social distancing part has become a challenge for policing but it’s been clear because the restrictions are now relaxed to the point where the public are interpreting the rules and some are slightly stretching the boundaries in terms of meeting up with other families and friends in parks.

"We’ve seen a fair bit of that.”

The fact that officers had handed out just one fixed penalty notice during the weekend “goes to prove that many people are adapting to the rules and I would like to thank the public for that”, he added.

He pointed to pictures featured in the press of people queuing up shoulder-to-shoulder to buy beers at Bournemouth beach, labelling their actions wholly irresponsible.

“It looks as if people have completely forgotten the fact that we still have this invisible killer out there and the rules still require you to maintain your distance,” he said.

Yesterday, people could be seen in Swindon’s various parks enjoying ice creams, playing football and even lighting up a barbecue.