NEW Forest car parks were found to be packed with vehicles at the weekend despite lockdown rules - with some people travelling to the area from as far afield as Guildford in Surrey.

A post on the Totton Police Facebook page on Sunday said: “We have found that every single car park in the New Forest is ram-packed with vehicles. When members of the public were asked where they have travelled from, some said that their home addresses are in places such as Guildford and Dorset.

“People are travelling from areas that are not local to the New Forest. We are in a lockdown, you should only be travelling locally. Guildford is over 55 miles from the New Forest. This is not local. While we still await the Government to define what “local” is, please use your common sense and stick to your town/city.”

Tourist hot spots such as Lyndhurst, Holmsley and Deerleap were reported to be particularly busy.

Councillor Annie Bellows, New Forest district councillor for Fordingbridge and Sandleheath, said: “I had seen the post and I was horrified and find it very frustrating that people are travelling from out of Hampshire to visit our beautiful New Forest. I, like the police, fail to understand why people can think that travelling from Surrey or wherever to exercise is a local journey. I live on the border of Hampshire/Dorset and Wiltshire but would not consider travelling for half an hour or more in either direction to exercise.

"Under present lockdown the New Forest car parks should be virtually empty as surely local means that people are able to walk to the forest to exercise.

“To me ‘local exercising’ means walking out the front door and walking locally but if this is not an option, then to drive a handful of miles to walk.”

New Forest district councillor for Bransgore and Burley, Martyn Levitt, said he was “not surprised” by the findings of Totton police, adding: “Ideally the Government should have fully publicised and re-enforced their ‘rules’ concerning this selfish but totally predictable behaviour.”

Nigel Matthews, of New Forest National Park Authority, urged everyone to “follow the Government’s guidance and stay local” in the village, town, or part of the city where they live.

Bruce Rothnie, Forestry England’s Deputy Surveyor for the New Forest, said:“We appreciate Hampshire Police’s support in dealing with these recent incidents and urge people to follow the government’s guidance - exercising outdoors should be done where you live, in your city, town or village.”

“We all need to reduce the number of journeys we make and maintain social distancing to avoid overcrowding in our forest car parks. Ensuring the New Forest is a safe place to exercise and protecting this very special landscape we have here, requires all of us to respect and look after it.”

“We have kept most of our car parks open, as we know from the first lockdown that by closing them it would lead to large amounts of parking on verges and open ground that could block narrow roads around villages and cause real and irreversible damage to the fragile landscape.

“This is a challenging time for everyone, and we continue to do all we can to keep the New Forest safe for local people to use for outdoor exercise.”

Superintendent Phil Lamb, of Hampshire police, said Government guidance urged staying local but added no distance limit had been specifically set on travel for exercise in the regulations.