Beauty salon owner who was caught breaking lockdown rules in January by giving customers nail treatments is fined £1,000
- Nail salon owner is fined £1,000 after she was caught breaking lockdown rules
- Natalie Hewitt, 32, caught in act by council worker as he walked past window
- Magistrates in Wrexham heard worker called police and two PCSOs arrived
A nail salon owner has been fined £1,000 after she was caught breaking lockdown rules in January to give customers treatments.
Natalie Hewitt, 32, denied breaching Covid-19 restrictions by not closing her salon Smooch Nails and Beauty in Wrexham, Wales when the area was placed in an alert level four lockdown.
But the beautician was caught in the act by a council worker who walked past the window and saw her ‘painting the nails’ of one woman, whilst two others sat nearby.
Following a trial at Wrexham Magistrates’ Court, public protection officer David Gregory claimed he discovered the lockdown breach at Hewitt’s salon when he peered through the glass.
Beauty salon owner Natalie Hewitt, 32, (pictured) denied breaching Covid-19 restrictions by not closing her salon Smooch Nails and Beauty in Wrexham, Wales
Magistrates in Wrexham heard the beautician was caught in the act by a council worker who walked past the window and saw her ‘painting the nails’ of one woman, whilst two others sat nearby
Mr Gregory said: ‘There was somebody directly in front of her and there were two other women to the side.’
The court heard Mr Gregory knocked on the door but Hewitt refused to answer in January this year.
He said: ‘I stepped aside and the other three people must have moved into the back room.’
Magistrates in Wrexham heard Mr Gregory called police for help and two PCSOs arrived – but Hewitt still refused to let them in.
PCSO Lance Montagu said Hewitt was ‘obstructive’, shaking her head, and saying something through the glass door that was inaudible.
Representing herself, Hewitt denied that there had been anyone else at the shop and claimed she had been ‘decorating and cleaning’.
She said she refused to open the door to Mr Gregory ‘because I was there on my own and he was aggressive in the way he came across’.
She also denied that the two PCSOs had also asked her to open the door.
Hewitt, of Buckley, Flintshire in Wales, pleaded not guilty to breaching Covid-19 regulations by failing to close her salon.
But she was convicted by magistrates and fined £1,000 and ordered to pay £1,000 prosecution costs.
Chair of the bench Celia Jenkins said: ‘We find no justification for you refusing to open the door. We find you guilty of carrying on a business contrary to Covid-19 regulations at the time.’
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