Rishi Sunak fined for not wearing seatbelt in back of car

The United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been fined for not wearing a seatbelt in a moving car.

The Lancashire Police, without specifying the name, said that it had issued a fixed penalty with a conditional offer to a 42-year-old man from London, BBC reported.

A video that was posted on Thursday, went viral when netizens spotted the prime minister without a seatbelt. He was in Lancashire.

After Suank's video went viral, a spokesperson said "fully accepts this was a mistake and has apologised." The representative also said that he would also pay the fine.

In the UK, passengers caught without wearing one can be fined £100 ($124), which can initially increase to £500 ($620) if the case goes to court.

Reacting to his video, Labour's deputy leader Angela Rayner in a tweet said that Sunak was a "total liability."

The Liberal Democrats said that being the second prime minister of the country to be fined by the police, he has shown the same disregard for the rules, as Boris Johnson.

This is the second time the prime minister has received a fixed penalty notice.

He received one in April 2022, when he was fined along with then-prime minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carie for breaking Covid lockdown rules, by attending a birthday party.

However, defending Sunak, Conservative MP for Blackpool South Benton said that "everybody makes mistakes." He added that police should focus on tackling serious crimes in the community.

In the UK, a fixed penalty notice is a sanction for breaking the law, a fine that needs to be paid within 28 days or contested. If someone chooses to contest the penalty, then the police will review the case and decide whether to withdraw the fine.