A party of loaded Brits were sent home on the private jet they rented to reach their Cannes villa despite the coronavirus lockdown.
Seven men in their s and s and three women in their s were intercepted by local police after the luxury business jet landed at Marseille-Provence airport last Saturday. The group had booked the plane and helicopters to take them to their rented villa.
A source in French police said the organizer of the trip – a Croatian national working in finance and estate agency in the UK – had ‘paid for everything’. He reportedly said to French police that ’I have money, let’s talk’ when they confronted him on the plane.
‘He was looking forward to the break, with his friends and young female escorts,’ said the source. He said they would all go to the villa, and lockdown there, and that there would be no problem.
‘But it was obviously a recreational trip, and under the containment measures these are strictly prohibited.’
Because the party stayed on the plane and technically did not step foot on French soil, they avoided a fine, reports MailOnline.
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The only fines issued were to the three French helicopter pilots waiting to take them to the Riviera.
France’s coronavirus death toll stands at 20, as of yesterday. There are now 7, people in intensive care units at hospitals across the country.
The country has been in lockdown since March , and allows only essential trips that must be justified with a signed piece of paper.
Health director Jérôme Salomon has said the restrictions are now making a difference.
He said: ‘Thanks to these measures, we are in the process of putting the brakes on the epidemic.’
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