Face covering ban comes into force in UK city centre – risking instant £70 fine

A MAJOR UK city centre has now introduced a ban on face coverings as the area grapples with a rise in masked crimes.

This comes as Nigel Farage has backed calls for a nationwide ban on face coverings in public spaces.

Nottingham city centre has become one of the first UK cities to enforce a ban on face coverings, as the new rules come into place today (September 15).

Now, the police are able to ask those wearing face coverings to remove them if they “reasonably believe” it is being used to conceal their identity to commit a crime.

This comes following a public consultation on the issue, dubbed ‘Operation Reclaim’, which saw more than 90 per cent of the 2,200 respondents support the measure.

Nottinghamshire Police added that more than 180 city centre incidents involving face coverings or balaclavas had been identified between June 2025 and June 2026.

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The Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood also demanded police chiefs make “full use” of new powers allowing officers to ban face coverings at protests for up to 24 hours.

This came ahead of a series of anti-migrant protests in Portsmouth and Dover last week and the previous weekend.

This is also not the first time the measures have been introduced, with similar bans brought in by Wolverhampton City Council in 2024 under a public spaces protection order.

The powers enabled West Midlands Police the authority to ask for people to remove face coverings if they had no reasonable grounds to wear them.

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Tuesday 15 September

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