Cheshire Police chiefs have praised the public's, and their officers', approach to following and enforcing Covid-19 laws.

Superintendent Julie Westgate made the comments after a freedom of information request by the LDRS revealed that not a single £10,000 fine had been dished out by the force.

A £10,000 fine is the maximum financial penalty authorities have to discourage rules breaches, and is used for repeat offenders.

In a statement, Superintendent Westgate said: "Cheshire residents have made incredible sacrifices this year by sticking to the rules and helping to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

"By using our approach of engage, explain, and encourage, the majority of the Cheshire public have followed the rules before the need to move to enforcement.

"To ensure that we are getting the balance right, every fixed penalty notice issued is reviewed and any points of learning are fed back to officers.

"The fact Cheshire officers have not had to issue a £10,000 fixed penalty notice demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach and reinforces the efforts of the people of Cheshire who have played their part in keeping us all safe."

The new fines system came in at the end of September, and still applies now that Cheshire is in Tier 2 restrictions.

Offences include not self-isolating for 14 days when instructed to, not isolating when returning from a country on the quarantine list, breaking the rule of six, or not wearing a mask when mandated to do so.