It has now been more than a year since the very first lockdown was ordered to slow the spread of coronavirus.

In that time, a further two national lockdowns have been imposed, in which people are required by law to stay at home except for essential reasons.

But not everyone has played by the rules.

Police have dished out a host of fines to people in south Essex who have been making non-essential journeys, and therefore breaching the Covid rules.

Here are just a few examples we have seen since of lockdown rules being breached in the past year:

800 mile round trip… to make videos

Two men from Southend hadn’t quite grasped the essential travel only mantra when they decided to head up to Scotland earlier this month.

When stopped and quizzed by officers what made their journey necessary, they said they had made the trip as part of TikTok videos.

The unimpressed officers handed both men a fine

Car meet held…. opposite police station

More than a dozen people were fined for hosting an illegal car meet in a multi-storey site in February.

The event was held in the Great Oaks Car Park, Basildon on Wednesday night.

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But organisers had forgotten one key issue – the car park is based right in front of the town’s police station.

Officers at the station didn’t take long to clock what was going on over the road.

When they arrived, they found a group of drivers in the car park who had met up to inspect each other’s vehicles - a hobby which is against the Government’s coronavirus regulations.

A total of 13 fines were dished out.

Birthday parties

Most of us have by now had a ‘lockdown birthday’ – but that doesn’t mean all of us have followed the rules.

Just a few weeks ago, two men travelling from Somerset to Westcliff – a distance of nearly 200 miles – for a birthday bash.

Both men were issued fines by Essex Police.

It was the second time in a month officers had dealt will illegal birthday parties.

A 45-year-old Basildon woman received an unwanted birthday present in early March after she organised a party for up to 50 people.

She was slapped with a fine by the unimpressed officers.

Visit to sea fort

Three men were left red-faced after they were caught traveling 150 miles to Southend to visit a sea fort.

The trio, who came from Staffordshire, got into a rib and set off in an attempt to reach the Red Sands Sea Fort in Whitstable.

But they soon got into difficulty on the water and had to be rescued by emergency services.

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They were brought into Sheerness Docks where they told officers they had intended to spend the night at the sea fort.

The men, aged between 31 and 41, were issued with fines for breaching Covid-19 regulations, Kent Police said.

A trip to the coast…. to watch the sunset

A man who travelled to Southend to watch the sunset was fined for breaching lockdown rules.

The 23-year-old had driven down to the coast from Chelmsford last week to catch a glimpse of the lowering sun.

But when he revealed his reason for traveling 25 miles to Shoebury to police, he was slapped with a fixed penalty notice for failing to follow the ‘essential travel’ rules.

Illegal football match

A man was slapped with a £200 fine for arranging an illegal football match.

About 30 parents watched their children play in the match which was staged in Laindon Common Road, Billericay.

Essex Police initially said no laws or Covid breaches took place after the organiser claimed he was linked to a Premier League football club.

But further investigations found the game was not linked to any high-level football clubs and the organiser was eventually fined £200.

Late-night drive around Southend

Three Londoners drove to Southend in the middle of the night...only to be slapped with a £300 Covid fine and left with no way of getting home.

Each one was fined for breaking Covid restrictions after they drove from the capital to Southend, but were then flagged down on Victoria Avenue at 2.30am for having no insurance.

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Their Toyota was then seized by police.

Essex Police revealed how the occupants of the car “could not explain” why they had travelled from London to Southend, and “couldn’t prove their journey was essential.”