British police fined Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Friday for taking off his seatbelt while he was in a moving car to film a clip to post on social media.
Sunak, 42, apologized for his “miscalculation” while filming a message on “Instagram” from the back seat of an official government car during his visit to northwest England on Thursday.
Lancashire Police said it had looked into the video “circulating on social media showing a person not wearing a seatbelt while in a moving car in Lancashire”.
Without naming Sunak, it added that it had “issued an offer conditional on a fixed penalty to a 42-year-old man from London”.
In the United Kingdom, the law imposes a penalty of up to 500 pounds ($ 620) for not wearing a seat belt.
A conditional offer means that the person who has been fined pleads guilty but does not go to court. The police did not specify the amount of fine Sunak was punished with.
“The prime minister fully agrees that this was a mistake and has apologised. Of course he will abide by the specified penalty,” Sunak’s office said in a statement.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been fined by Lancashire Police for not wearing a seatbelt in a moving car while filming a social media video.
Political correspondent Jonathan Beale has more details on #BBCBreakfasthttps://t.co/itdtS9uQhp pic.twitter.com/tEiahcwgNm
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) January 21, 2023
This is the second time Sunak has been fined during his political career.
Last year, when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was fined £50 for breaking lockdown rules during the coronavirus pandemic by attending a short party inside a government office.
He was one of dozens of officials fined over the Partygate scandal, which involved then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
