UK's Sunak fined for not wearing seatbelt in moving vehicle
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is faces a fine for failing to wear seatbelt in a moving car.
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British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during the video in question without wearing a seatbelt, Lancashire, United Kingdom, January 19, 2023 (Social media)
The British police fined on Friday Prime Minister Rishi Sunak after the premier was filming a social media video in a moving car without wearing a seatbelt.
"We have today issued a 42-year-old man from London with a conditional offer of fixed penalty," the Lancashire Police said in a Twitter statement in which they did not directly name the premier.
The fixed penalty dodges Sunak a court hearing, allowing him to directly pay a fine.
Downing Street issued a statement in response, saying Sunak "fully accepts this was a mistake and has apologised," noting that the premier will "of course, comply with the fixed penalty."
According to the BBC, the fine for not wearing a seatbelt as a car passenger would be £100 ($124), and if the case had gone to court, Sunak could face a fine upwards of £500.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been fined for not wearing a seatbelt in a moving car while filming a social media video.
— GHOne TV (@GHOneTV) January 20, 2023
Cc: @BBCNews #GHOneNews pic.twitter.com/sgw1ldUXSH
The video that came out on Thursday, produced for distribution on Sunak's social media, saw the Tory leader speaking from the backseat of a moving car about his policies for increasing growth in the UK during a trip to Lancashire.
The premier ended up apologizing for an "error of judgment" soon after the video was published, and it has been removed from Instagram.
This comes after political rivals of the premier took to criticizing his transportation habits, putting him under fire for using his private jet to make multiple short flights in recent days.
This is not the first time that Sunak has been fined by the police as a public official, for he was fined while serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer for attending a Downing Street party thrown by then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson in June 2020 that violated the government's rules on social distancing.
Following reports of gatherings in Downing Street and Whitehall during the pandemic, with various others receiving penalties, such as the government's former head of ethics, Helen MacNamara, who received a fixed-penalty notice for attending a Cabinet Office parting party in June 2020.
An image published by The Daily Mirror in December 2020 showed Johnson with his deputy principal private secretary, Stuart Glassborow, with an open bottle of prosecco and a staff member wearing party decorations, in what later became known as Partygate. Downing Street said that the event was a virtual quiz.
Read next: Johnson loyalist says PM removal inevitable amid Partygate scandal
Conservative members of the parliament, even loyalists, demanded that the PM be removed from his position if investigations reveal he committed a criminal offense. Nevertheless, Johnson is in denial that he has broken any law, calling the suggestion to add the "virtual quiz" to the events "completely in error."
Police issued a statement revealing that they have been handed more than 300 photographs of Downing Street events, in addition to 500 pages of evidence. According to Scotland Yard, more people may be contacted regarding the issue.
