Breaking: Lab 11 fined £10,000 for breaking coronavirus rules

West Midlands Police fined Lab 11 for an outdoor event with over 120 people which was actually indoors


LAB 11, the popular Digbeth student venue, has been fined £10,000 for breaking coronavirus rules, as West Midlands Police have reported their outdoor events with 120 people have been taking place inside. It’s currently against the law for households to mix inside in Birmingham.

LAB 11, have disputed the claims, on a Facebook post. “We are not paying the fine. See you in court,” they announced.

The incident takes place after LAB 11 announced earlier this week their plans to close temporarily.

 

This incident takes the amount of fines that West Midlands Police have given out for breaching coronavirus rules to four. West Midlands Police explained in their report of LAB 11 “trying to pass off” events in a marquee as outside.

West Midlands Police’s video on Twitter taken during one of the LAB 11 events, has the policeman commenting that the marquee shown “is not outdoors”.

In the report linked with the video the problems are outlined as mixing of households, an absence of masks being worn, and the “walls and a roof” they argue makes the marquee a building.

The UK has today announced another 224 people have died from coronavirus within 28 days of testing positive. “This is not a game any more, people are dying,” the West Midlands Police officer remarked in the video.

LAB 11 this afternoon responded with a Facebook post explaining the case against them, the post mentioned the fine imposed by West Midlands Police.  “Today we have been visited by police officers and served with a fixed penalty notice of £10,000 – according to the fixed penalty notice we are in breach of health protection coronavirus regulations 2020; for holding or being in relation to holding an event of more than 30 persons.”

Lab 11 go onto detail the efforts taken to create a safe environment. “We are a 2000+ capacity venue operating at 120 people. There has been two rounds of further re-investment into the venue funded by loans and personal money only. Each time the guidelines have changed we’ve adapted our business accordingly, implementing new structures, efforts & measures to keep our venue compliant.”

“The issue that West Midlands Police appear to have taken is in relation to legality of our marquee. We claimed the event was outdoor and they claimed it was indoor and this is the position that we still maintain. We had taken legal advice on this and followed it accordingly. We have not had one single official warning or complaint regarding this from Police, Licensing or the council prior to this point in over four months of operating,” they continued.

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