British PM fined for not wearing a seatbelt

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visits the Northern School of Art in Hartlepool, England, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. (Scott Heppell/Pool Photo via AP)

LONDON (AP) — Police fined UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak Friday for removing his seatbelt to record a video for social media from a moving car.

Sunak, 42, apologized for his “misjudgment” during the recording of an Instagram post on Thursday from the back seat of an official car during a visit to north-west England.

Lancashire Police said they had seen video “circulating on social media showing an unbelted passenger in a moving car in Lancashire.” Police said, without mentioning Sunak’s name, that they “sent a 42-year-old man from London a conditional offer of a fixed penalty.”

Failure to wear a seat belt is punishable by a fine of up to $620 (500 pounds). The conditional offer means that the person fined accepts their fault, but does not have to go to trial. Police did not specify how much Sunak was fined.

In a statement, Sunak’s office said that “the prime minister fully accepts that this was a mistake and has apologized. Of course he will comply with the fixed sanction ”.

This is the second time Sunak has been fined during his political career. Last year, when he was head of the Treasury, he was fined £50 for breaching pandemic lockdown rules by briefly attending a party at government offices. He was one of dozens of officials fined in the so-called “partygate” scandal, including then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Sunak took over as UK prime minister in October, pledging “integrity, professionalism and accountability” after tumultuous years in which Johnson was ousted following various scandals and his successor, Liz Truss, ousted after her policies destabilized the UK economy.

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