Masked troublemakers face £70 fines and indefinite city centre bans in Nottingham crackdown
The restrictions mean police and council officers can require people to remove a face covering where their identity is being concealed to commit crime or behave anti-socially, Nottinghamshire Police said.
The powers will include £70 on-the-spot fines, confiscation of the face covering, and referral to an immediate justice programme requiring community work.
Those who continue to flout the order could be issued with a criminal behaviour order, which could ban them from the city centre indefinitely.
The crackdown is not a blanket ban on face coverings, and officers are targeting “crime, anti-social behaviour or intimidating conduct”, and there are clear exemptions protecting people who wear face coverings for legitimate reasons such as religious, health, medical, or work needs.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for full face coverings, including those worn for religious reasons, to be banned in public, after masked anti-illegal migrant protesters gathered in Dover earlier this month.
Timothy Miller, 76, from Southampton, was charged with concealing his identity after police warned they would use powers to arrest demonstrators wearing face coverings at an anti-immigration protest in Portsmouth at the weekend.
Neghat Khan, leader of Nottingham City Council, said last week: “We have listened to people across Nottingham who have told us that they can feel intimidated when they see individuals wearing balaclavas, skeleton masks or other face coverings without a legitimate reason in our city centre.
“Our residents should be able to live, work and spend time in Nottingham without feeling frightened or unsafe.
“That is why we are taking decisive action and becoming one of the first cities in the country to introduce a restriction of this kind.”
A consultation by the authority received responses from more than 2,200 people, more than 90% of them supporting action to tackle the issue.
Evidence gathered by Nottinghamshire Police identified more than 180 city centre incidents involving face coverings or balaclavas between June 2025 and June 2026.
Nottinghamshire Police and Crime Commissioner Gary Godden said he believes the new powers will make it easier for police to take away “the veil of anonymity that some people try to hide behind”.
He added: “I’m delighted that our immediate justice programme can be used by people who fall foul of this ban, as it will mean they will be made to swiftly and very visibly pay back the community they have harmed.”
Wolverhampton City Council introduced powers governing face coverings in 2024, also under a public spaces protection order, to help tackle anti-social behaviour in the city centre.
The order gives West Midlands Police authority to request people to remove face coverings if they have no reasonable grounds to wear them and people are using them to purposely disguise their identity.
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