Last Update: January 20, 2023, 6:39 pm
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. (Image: Reuters file)
Sunak’s spokesperson said, “It was a brief error of judgement. The PM removed his seatbelt to film a short clip. He fully accepts it was a mistake and apologizes for it.”
The local police force where British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak filmed a social media video in a moving car without a seatbelt said on Friday they are “looking into” the matter.
Lancashire Police said it had been aware of the matter since Thursday, after Sunak apologized for a “short error of judgement” in removing his seatbelt to film a video while driving in north-west England. He now faces the possibility of a fine of GBP 100 if a legal breach is established by the police.
“It was a brief error of judgement. The PM removed his seatbelt to film a short clip. He fully accepts it was a mistake and apologizes for it,” Sunak’s spokesperson said.
“The Prime Minister believes that everyone should wear seat belts,” the spokesperson said.
In the UK, passengers not wearing a seatbelt in a car, unless covered by a valid medical exemption, can be given an on-the-spot fine of GBP 100, up to GBP 500 if the matter goes to court increases.
Sunak filmed the video while sitting on the back seat of a moving car to promote his government’s new Leveling Up Fund announcements to finance over 100 projects across the country. Addressing the camera, police motorcycles can be seen alongside their car.
In England, passengers aged 14 and over are responsible for ensuring they wear seat belts, if fitted, in cars, vans and other goods vehicles and drivers are responsible for passengers under 14 . Exemptions include having or having a doctor’s certificate for medical reasons. In a vehicle used for police, fire or other rescue services. The government also recently considered tightening seatbelt rules to ensure that drivers who don’t wear them could also get penalty points on their licence. The latest figures from the Department for Transport suggest that around 30 per cent of people killed in cars on UK roads in 2021 were not wearing seatbelts.
The opposition Labor Party said the latest incident added to an “endlessly painful scene” after previous videos emerged to show Sunak struggling to make a contactless payment with his card.
“Rishi Sunak doesn’t know how to manage seatbelts, his debit card, the train service, the economy or this country. The list is growing every day, and is making for an endlessly painful scene,” said a Labor spokesman.
It came at the end of the day he came under attack from the opposition for using a Royal Air Force (RAF) jet to fly over the north of the country. Downing Street insisted that the aircraft was used to ensure the best use of the Prime Minister’s time.
Daisy Cooper, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats, said: “It seems the prime minister is so used to flying in a private jet that he has forgotten to wear a seatbelt in a car.”
The UK’s Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said “Everyone should take seatbelt laws seriously – whoever they are and wherever they are”.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)