Fake ‘blue plaque’ put up on Blackpool street to commemorate Rishi Sunak’s seatbelt fine

A fake commemorative ‘blue plaque’ has been spotted on a Blackpool street where prime minister Rishi Sunak was filmed in a moving car while he was not wearing a seatbelt.

Sunak was fined last month for the breach of the traffic rule and he apologised for his “error of judgment”.

But pranksters stuck a lamppost with a ‘blue plaque’ on Squires Gate Lane which is on the route taken by the prime minister for his Lancashire trip when he was spotted beltless.

The plaque mimicking the famous English Heritage-style plates reads: “Rishi Sunak 19-1-2023. Received a fixed penalty notice for being filmed passing this spot in a car whilst not wearing a seatbelt.”

In the video posted on Sunak's social media channels, the Conservative leader could be seen from the back seat of a moving car talking about his government’s policies. The clip went viral and viewers spotted him breaching the mandatory seatbelt rule.

Without naming Sunak, Lancashire later said in a statement: "We have today issued a 42-year-old man from London with a conditional offer of fixed penalty."

It was not the first time the Conservative politician was slapped with a police fine.

Sunak was previously fined when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer for attending a Downing Street party in violation of pandemic restrictions in June 2020.

It is not known who put up the English Heritage-style blue plaque. Such plates are generally used to celebrate the links between famous figures of the past and the buildings in which they lived and worked.