A hapless pair were slapped with Covid fines after driving to "see the sea" in Sussex - despite the fact they lived in a coastal Hampshire city.

The Southampton duo were caught by roads police as they raced along the A27 at Arundel at more than 90mph yesterday morning.

Arundel is about five miles inland.

Both the driver and the passenger were issued with £200 Covid fines for breaching lockdown restrictions. The driver was also fined for speeding.

PC Tom Van Der Wee was one of the officers who stopped the car yesterday, taking to Twitter to share details of the mind-boggling incident.

He said: "(A) vehicle was stopped travelling at 90 plus miles per hour on the A27 at Arundel.

"It transpired that the occupants (who both live in Southampton) were on a drive to go an see the sea as, seemingly, there isn't enough of it where they live.

"Two Covid fines were issued, and one for speeding."

The action was part of Operation Downsway. This joint venture sees specialist officers from the Surrey and Sussex Roads Policing Unit (RPU) provide education and enforcement to drivers, with the aim of targeting offenders and keeping people safe on the roads in the two counties.

The fined duo were issued Covid fines because they breached lockdown rules.

These state: "You must not leave or be outside of your home except where you have a ‘reasonable excuse’. This is the law.

"The police can take action against you if you leave home without a ‘reasonable excuse’, and issue you with a fine (Fixed Penalty Notice).

"You can be given a Fixed Penalty Notice of £200 for the first offence, doubling for further offences up to a maximum of £6,400."

Driving to "see the sea" is not among the listed "reasonable excuses".

These include travelling for work, volunteering, essential activities such as food shopping, education and childcare, exercise once each day, medical reasons, maternity, to escape the risk of harm or injury, compassionate visits, animal welfare reasons and communal worship.