South Wales Police will be 'stepping up' their patrols of beachside car parks as people continue to be fined for making unnecessary trips to beauty spots.

In a statement on Twitter, South Wales Police said: "Officers are continuing to patrol beachside car parks around the city centre and challenging those who are travelling for non-essential reasons.

"Please respect the rules that are put in place to keep all of us safe and #protectournhs."

Police officers were out patrolling areas around Blackpill and Bracelet Bay today.

Last week, South Wales Police issued warnings to people travelling to Mumbles and Gower for non-essential reasons after patrolling car parks in the area.

On Sunday, one person was fined after travelling from Newport to meet a friend in a Swansea car park.

Swansea City Council warned people against travelling to beaches and foreshore car parks for exercise.

"South Wales Police officers are stepping-up patrols of beachside car parks and challenging those who are travelling for non-essential reasons and issuing fixed penalty notices where necessary," the council said.

"Welsh Government rules are very clear that with a very small number of exemptions people should start and finish their exercise from their own doorsteps and should not use their cars for this purpose."

According to Welsh Government guidelines, you can leave home as often as you like to exercise, as long as you do so from home and alone or with members of your household or support bubble.

There are no limits on how far you can travel during your exercise, but guidelines state that "the nearer you stay to your home, the better."

The guidelines say: "Exercise should be undertaken locally – from home or as close as possible to the home. In general, this should not involve people driving to a location away from home for this purpose.

"No journeys of any significant distance should be taken, for example, just in order to exercise in the countryside or at beauty spots."

However, those who have specific health or mobility issues and need to drive from their home in order to find an accessible location for exercise are allowed to, as long as the journey is to the nearest convenient accessible location and no long journeys are undertaken unless absolutely necessary.