Top Gear in Lincoln: The conspiracy theories

A YouTuber filming near Boston police station was arrested and issued with a coronavirus fine.

Ryan Dales, known on YouTube as Ryan Rampage, uploaded a video entitled ‘Arrested and COVID fined at Boston Police Station (Corruption at its finest)’ on February 16.

It has since attracted over 8,300 views and over 300 comments. He even included a link to his PayPal in the video description for anyone who wants to help him pay his COVID fine.

Ryan, whose life was saved by a police officer when he was two-years-old, starts the video with an introduction where he points at that it is “legal to film in a public place” and how police made him “really angry, it’s so corrupt, this is what you call brutality”.

*Be advised – there is some strong language in this video*

He walks around outside the police station and into the car park before two female members of staff come and ask what he is filming and where he has travelled from.

Ryan simply says he is in Boston on “official business” and is allowed to film in a public place. After a conversation the staff go back inside.

He continues filming outside the police station before Chief Inspector Trafford quizzes the YouTuber about why he is filming officers in their private cars.

The chief inspector said he is concerned for the security of police officers, but when asked why he is filming, Ryan said “because I can, for my own benefit”. He said “I am here and about for a reason” and when asked what that reason is, he simply replied with “it doesn’t apply to you”.

He believed he has a reasonable reason to be out, but the chief inspector didn’t agree, saying: “I’m going to give you one opportunity now, your final opportunity, to leave this area otherwise I’m going to consider you in breach of the COVID restrictions, and consequently you’ll be fined and you’ll be issued a ticket.”

Ryan claims he’s waiting for someone to pick him up, but is told to wait elsewhere or he will be fined. He becomes increasingly angry at police and as they come towards him he says “don’t surround me, you’re alarming me”.

He refuses to provide his details when asked and told that he has not “given a reasonable excuse for being there”. He is then arrested and taken into the station.

He is issued with a COVID fine and told not to return near the police station or he will get re-arrested. He then goes to the local train station and also films one of the officers getting into her car, who asks if he’s “fishing for another COVID ticket”.

Lincolnshire Police were contacted for a response.

This is Ryan’s second YouTube account and has over 370 subscribers, including another brush with the law and a video claiming the “COVID testing site choose to be bullys [sic]”.

His other YouTube account with nearly 700 subscribers includes several urban explorer videos.

He’s not the first YouTuber to get in trouble with Lincolnshire Police and get fined over filming outside a station. Here is another recent example from Lincoln.

Councillors have given a Chapel St Leonards bar owner a strict warning after a business meeting which “turned to more socialising”.

Walter Sheeran, director of Teen Spirit Limited and premises licence holder at Miller’s Bar, appeared before East Lincolnshire District Council’s licensing committee behind closed doors on Monday.

It followed police attending the premises due to loud noises, and finding six people they said were not engaging in social distancing or wearing face coverings and which CCTV showed drinking, getting a food takeaway, drinking shots, watching football and dancing.

A report of the proceedings by ELDC said police officers told committee members the meeting “had been described to them as a business meeting, but in their view the meeting had gone on far longer and some of the attendants were intoxicated and some dancing had taken place.”

Defending the owner, Sarah Clover said it was a meeting, however, “she acknowledged that it may have turned to more socialising”.

She said there had been a “celebration of someone joining the company towards the end” but that those participating “had been talking about business on and off throughout”.

She told the committee all six were on the payroll at the time or were added after and three of them lived in the same household.

The people all worked together on a daily basis and no members of the public were in attendance, she added.

“Miss Clover made representations that the coronavirus regulations did not require business meetings to be concluded as quickly as possible, and there was nothing to prohibit the consumption of alcohol and food whilst in the business meeting,” said a report of the meeting.

She added that the risk factor did not increase “simply because the business element of the meeting finished” and said that businesses were allowed to be open for staff to access for cleaning throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

She added that social distancing and face masks were “not law but in fact guidance”.

In a statement following the meeting Michael Kheng, director of Kurnia Licensing Consultants Limited who represented Teen Spirit Limited, said he was “pleased” by the decision.

“In our mind the licence should never have been called into review and the cost to the company and public purse has been huge. Teen Spirit Limited were simply having a meeting and evidence to prove this was shown to the subcommittee.

“The company cooperated with the investigation throughout and are upset that they felt the police had treated them like criminals for simply trying to run their business and have a legitimate business meeting.”

He said evidence showed “no COVID-19 regulations had been broken”.

Teen Spirit Limited operate several premises in and around Skegness and in almost 30 years Their operations have never been called into question.

Michael Kheng added that he felt far too often reviews of premises licences were being applied “wrongly”. “The overall costs for all parties are huge,” he said.

“The hospitality industry has suffered enormously over the past 12 months and to have to face an unnecessary review is another pressure on a business.”

There have been 97 new coronavirus cases and seven COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday — down from 136 cases and eight deaths this time last week.

The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 69 new cases in Lincolnshire, 18 in North East Lincolnshire and 10 in North Lincolnshire.

On Tuesday, five deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and two in North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.

NHS England reported three new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and one at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust.

On Tuesday, national cases increased by 6,391 to 4,188,400, while deaths rose by 343 to 123,296.

Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate up to March 1 according to the government’s dashboard:

Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Feb 22 to Mar 1. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite

In national news, the first assessment of the Brazilian variant of COVID-19, newly identified in the UK, shows it may spread more easily – and evade the immune system.

Scientists from Brazil and the UK estimate the variant, known as P1, is 1.4 to 2.2 times more transmissible than previous versions of coronavirus circulating in Manaus, the Amazon city where it originated.

So far, the hunt for an unidentified person who tested positive for the Brazil variant of coronavirus has narrowed to 379 households in southeast England, the health secretary has said.

Mr Hancock said in the House of Commons on Tuesday: “We must proceed with caution because although we’re moving quickly, the virus moves quickly too.”

Lincolnshire’s COVID cases up to March 2.

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Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Tuesday, March 2

Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.

53,701 cases (up 97)

• 37,904 in Lincolnshire (up 69)
• 8,076 in North Lincolnshire (up 10)
• 7,721 in North East Lincolnshire (up 18)

2,086 deaths (up seven)

• 1,533 from Lincolnshire (up five)
• 299 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
• 254 from North East Lincolnshire (up two)

of which 1,230 hospital deaths (up four)

• 764 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up three)
• 41 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
• 1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
• 424 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)

4,188,400 UK cases, 123,296 deaths

DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.