A clandestine house party flouting social distancing protocols and indoor gathering limits in the Melbourne Metropolitan region was busted after ambulance officials, by chance, noticed a truly massive KFC order being placed late last night.
In extraordinary scenes at today’s daily coronavirus briefing in Melbourne, Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Shane Patton detailed the insane scenario in extreme detail, with each sentence of the situation more ridiculous than the last.
The party, for someone’s birthday, was picked up on in the Dandenong region at around 1:30am last night.
According to Patton, ambulance officials “were at a KFC at Dandenong and while they were getting something to eat they saw two people in there and they were ordering 20 meals at 1.30 this morning.”
“They spoke to the people at KFC and subsequently, there was a report made to us, we got the registration number of the car and we followed through and went to that address in Dandenong,” Patton asserted.
Only adding to the stupidity of the whole scenario, Patton confirmed that when officers attended the residence, 16 people at the party had attempted to hide.
“When we went in there was two people asleep but there were 16 others hiding out the back and they just got the KFC meals at a birthday. That is ridiculous that type of behaviour,” he asserted.
16 on-the-spot fines were issued, according to police officials, with the combined infringements totalling somewhere around $26,000.
“That is a heck of a birthday party to recall. They will remember that one for a long time,” Patton stated.
In total, Victoria Police issued 60 infringement notices in the past 24 hours to people ignoring social distancing protocols. That includes 12 issued to people in cars trying to escape the Metropolitan Melbourne area to holiday homes around the state. One driver from Docklands was fined while attempting to travel to Phillip Island after being previously turned around and warned at a checkpoint.
Worryingly, however, police also issued fines to four sex workers in Glen Waverley, in what stands as a troubling precedent for people in the industry.
On-the-spot fines in Victoria can run up to as much as $1,652 for individuals.
