Rishi Sunak fined for not wearing car seatbelt while filming Instagram post

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has been fined for not wearing a seatbelt in the back of a moving car.

Lancashire Police said that “following the circulation of a video on social media showing an individual failing to wear a seat belt while a passenger in a moving car in Lancashire we have … issued a 42-year-old man from London with a conditional offer of fixed penalty.”

The 42-year-old man in question is the prime minister who was in Blackpool, Lancashire, this week to promote his government’s “levelling-up” agenda to invest in the most neglected parts of provincial England.

Sunak was filming an Instagram post in which he talked to the camera without a seatbelt on. The post has since been removed from the social media site.

A 10 Downing Street spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister fully accepts this was a mistake and has apologised. He will of course comply with the fixed penalty.”

Sunak is in danger of becoming a serial offender. In April 2022, he and his then-boss, Boris Johnson, were fined for attending rule-breaking parties while coronavirus restrictions were in place. After that fine, Sunak, at the time chancellor of the exchequer, said: “I understand that for figures in public office, the rules must be applied stringently in order to maintain public confidence.”