AS LOCKDOWN restrictions eased and people in Herefordshire were told to head outside as much as they like, or have a group of six in their garden, trouble flared at beauty spots.

In the weeks after Prime Minister Boris Johnson relaxed rules in England, police slammed daytrippers at a notorious quarry on the Herefordshire border.

Police found more than 100 people at the dangerous Gullet Quarry near Ledbury on Sunday (May 31), which has already claimed young lives, including Justas Juzenas, aged 22, of Ross-on-Wye.

Police said a number of those had breached the barbed wire fences to access the quarry, and were not social distancing.

That’s despite the Government saying keeping two metres away from people outside your household remains key.

Chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance told a Downing Street press briefing: “It’s not an absolute beyond two metres is safe and slightly less is not safe, there’s a graduation across that, and so roughly, at a metre, it’s somewhere between 10 and 30 times more risky than at two metres.”

Those spoken to by police were not all local, with some from Birmingham, Redditch and Gloucester.

Officers also cleared litter and disposable barbecues left behind. West Mercia Police had previously warned of cold water shock and the risk of spreading Covid-19.

Closer to Hereford, the river Wye at Bredwardine was also a hotspot for those looking to take advantage of the eased restrictions and 24C sunny weather.

Local residents had criticised “inconsiderate parking” but police said they believed the small groups were “reasonably observing social distancing”.