No evidence UK council will fine people £5 for sitting too long

A video claiming that a council in southern England has introduced a new rule that will mean anyone who sits on a public bench for more than 15 minutes could be fined £5 has been shared more than 1,200 times on Facebook.

We’ve also spotted videos making similar claims racking up tens of thousands of views on TikTok, but there’s no evidence it’s true.

The videos claim the supposed new rule is to “prevent loitering and misuse of public spaces” and will be enforced by “local wardens” using “AI-linked street cameras” to issue instant penalties.

While a voiceover makes these claims, several apparently genuine clips of politicians, including the prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, education secretary Bridget Philipson and shadow levelling up secretary James Cleverly all speaking in the House of Commons, are shown without the original audio.

Although sitting on a bench for too long could have been considered a breach of certain lockdown rules during the coronavirus pandemic, Full Fact could not find any evidence any such rule has been recently considered or introduced by a UK council.

We’ve noticed that the video and its variations have been shared by a number of social media accounts that have also shared other false videos about supposed new state powers in the UK.

In the last few weeks we have published fact checks about videos incorrectly claiming that purchases over £1,000 will be automatically reported to HMRC from 2026, going abroad four times a year will flag you to the tax agency for “enhanced customs monitoring” from August, and the government is imposing restrictions on essential grocery items.

Before sharing content like this that you see on social media, first consider whether it comes from a trustworthy and verifiable source. Our toolkit gives you advice on how to navigate bad information online.