LONDON (AP) \u2014 U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was fined by police on Friday for taking off his seat belt to film a social media video in a moving car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunak, 42, has\u00a0apologized for making an \u201cerror of judgment\u201d\u00a0while recording a message for Instagram from the back of an official government car during a visit to northwest England on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Lancashire Police force said it had looked into video \u201ccirculating on social media showing an individual failing to wear a seat belt while a passenger in a moving car in Lancashire.\u201d The force said, without naming Sunak, that it had \u201cissued a 42-year-old man from London with a conditional offer of fixed penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Failing to wear a seat belt is punishable by a penalty of up to 500 pounds ($620), though fixed penalty notices for such offenses are usually 100 pounds ($124) if paid promptly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conditional offer means that the person fined accepts guilt but doesn\u2019t have to go to court. Police didn\u2019t say how much Sunak was fined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunak\u2019s office said in a statement that \u201cthe prime minister fully accepts this was a mistake and has apologized. He will of course comply with the fixed penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the second time Sunak has been fined during his political career. Last year, when he was Treasury chief, he was fined 50 pounds for breaching pandemic lockdown rules by briefly attending a party inside government offices. He was one of dozens of officials fined over the \u201cpartygate\u201d scandal, including then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sunak took office as U.K. leader in October, promising \u201cintegrity, professionalism and accountability\u201d after a tumultuous few years that saw Johnson ousted by multiple scandals and his successor Liz Truss toppled after her policies rocked the U.K. economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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