THIS is the moment police put out a barbecue using a helmet full of seawater.

Police confronted two people having a barbecue on Hove beach during lockdown on Saturday.

One yellow-jacketed officer can be seen tipping a helmet full of water onto the BBQ as a colleague watches on.

The pair have been “summonsed to attend court after breaching the Coronavirus Act 2020 by having a BBQ on Hove beach.”

Sussex Police added: “Thank you to everyone that stayed away from beauty spots and beaches today. We know it isn’t easy.”

Dave Strauss filmed what happened and uploaded it on Twitter, saying: "The ceremonial extinguishing of the BBQ using a beach patrol guy’s helmet.

The Argus:

"Then tried to eat his wet sausage."

People were warned over the weekend not to put lives at risk by visiting beaches, parks and other beauty spots during the warm weather.

Yesterday, it was announced that another 621 people had died after contracting coronavirus, taking the UK death toll to 4,934.

People have been told to stay at home to avoid spreading the disease, with exceptions only for essential shopping, medical reasons, helping the vulerable, exercise or work.

Cabinet secretary Michael Gove has meanwhile said there is “evidence to suggest” young people are not taking social distancing measures seriously despite strict instructions to stay at home.

“That is why it is important that we reach them appropriately – it may be that some of the messages and some of the channels we have used have not reached some segments of the population,” he said last week.

“It may be that young people feel that they are less likely to be affected and less likely to be infected.”

Police chiefs have also asked the public to “cut us a little bit of slack” following criticism of heavy-handed tactics to enforce the Covid-19 lockdown.

  • At The Argus, we are championing the work of traders during the coronavirus pandemic as part of our #BackingSussexBusiness campaign. We are always interested to hear how the community is coming together in this crisis. If you know of a local business battling to do all it can in these tough times and/or offering support to the local community, please get in touch at laurie.churchman@theargus.co.uk and rose.lock@theargus.co.uk.