The police presence on the Scottish border with England will be doubled after Nicola Sturgeon announced strict new coronavirus restrictions for the country.
Police Scotland chief constable Iain Livingstone said “highly visible patrols” would be used to “deter anyone who might be considering breaching the coronavirus travel restrictions”.
The warning comes the day after the first minister announced severe lockdown measures for Scotland over Christmas – including a “strict travel ban” to or from other parts of the UK, with some exceptions for essential purposes.
The ban – which was put in place last month – was due to be relaxed over the festive period.
Sturgeon also announced that people in Scotland would only be able to form a festive bubble on Christmas Day – and that most of Scotland would be put into the highest level of lockdown from Boxing Day.
In a statement reported by the PA news agency, Livingstone said it would not be “appropriate or proportionate for officers to establish checkpoints or roadblocks to simply enforce travel restrictions”.
However, he said he had “authorised the doubling of our operational presence in the Border areas of Scotland.
“These highly visible patrols will be proactively deployed on our road networks to continue our operational activity to ensure drivers and vehicles are in a fit condition to drive.
“The patrols will also deter anyone who night be considering breaching the coronavirus travel restrictions.”
He said he expects roads to be “quieter than usual over the coming days”.
The news came as a number of European countries introduced their own bans on travel from the UK amid fears about spreading a new – more contagious – strain of coronavirus.
On Sunday, the UK reported 35,928 new cases of Covid-19 – the highest figure on record.
Germany, Ireland, Belgium, France and the Netherlands have all announced restrictions on travellers arriving from the UK in a bid to stop the spread of the new strain.