A CAR wash owner was issued with a "hefty fine" after staying open despite Tier 4 restrictions.

The Ifield business was issued warnings by both police and Trading Standards teams before officers took action.

Tier 4 restrictions state that only automatic car washes may stay open.

Manual operations have to close while the area they are in remains under the highest coronavirus alert level.

In a post on social media, a Crawley Police spokesman said: "(On Tuesday) officers attended a hand car wash business in Ifield.

"The owner was open for business again after being warned by ourselves and Trading Standards.

"The business was closed down and the owner received a hefty fine."

All of Sussex was escalated to Tier 4 on Boxing Day due to the rising coronavirus rates in the county, and the discovery of a new, more transmissible strain of Covid-19 which was identified in the South East.

Yesterday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced that several other areas of England would be elevated to the government's highest coronavirus alert level as the number of Covid cases continues to rise in most parts of the country.

The addition of parts of the Midlands, North East, parts of the North West and parts of the South West to Tier 4 now means that millions of people face tighter restrictions, with the change in tiers coming into effect at one minute past midnight this morning.