Yahoo News 'Lockdown lunacy': Nigel Farage claims police warned him about coronavirus travel ban after 63-mile trip
Nigel Farage has claimed police called at his door to warn him about non-essential travel during the coronavirus lockdown.
The Brexit Party leader said police came to his home on Monday evening after receiving a complaint about a trip he made to Dover – 63 miles or an hour and 20 minutes away from his home in Westerham, also in Kent.
On Monday evening, Farage posted a video showing him talking to camera in Dover about what he called the “illegal migrant scandal”.
But hours later he posted another tweet claiming police had visited him at his home and warned him about non-essential travel, accusing the force of “lockdown lunacy”.
Lockdown lunacy.
Two police officers just knocked on my door to advise me on essential travel.
They had received a complaint that I had been to Dover to report on the illegal migrant scandal taking place.
What a total waste of time and money.— Nigel Farage (@Nigel_Farage) May 4, 2020
He wrote: “Two police officers just knocked on my door to advise me on essential travel. What a total waste of time and money.”
Kent Police declined to comment when approached by Yahoo News UK.
It isn’t the first time there have been complaints about Farage’s movements during the coronavirus lockdown.
Last week, he was reported to police for travelling 100 miles from his home in Kent to Pett Level beach in East Sussex to film a video about migrants.
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Farage, 56, claims he is a key worker because of his broadcast work for radio station LBC, saying he is therefore exempt from the government’s social distancing restrictions.
It says people should only go outside for food, health reasons, one form of exercise or work (and only if they cannot work from home).
The government says “journalists and broadcasters who are providing public service broadcasting” are classified as key workers.
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A spokesman for Farage told the Daily Mirror last week that interviews he conducted during his trip to East Sussex were later used on LBC.
But a spokeswoman for Sussex Police told the newspaper: “We can confirm that we have received reports of a recent video involving Nigel Farage which was filmed in East Sussex.
“We are clear that the public should avoid making non-essential journeys, not only for their own safety but for the safety of others.”
Ministers are bound by law to review the current lockdown measures on Thursday, and prime minister Boris Johnson is expected to lay out his “road map” on Sunday for easing the restrictions.
