Britain’s coronavirus lockdown is facing its biggest test yet amid rising temperatures at the start of the Easter bank holiday weekend as police mobilised to stop getaways to second homes and a government “Stay Home Save Lives” message was targeted at younger men in particular. A multi-pronged policing response included stopping caravans and those suspected of going to second homes, patrols of urban parks and rural beauty spots, as well as Ministry of Defence police boats engaging with people on beaches through loudspeakers. Celebrities including the England rugby head coach, Eddie Jones, the TV presenter Emma Willis and the former boxer David Haye have been deployed as part of a government-sponsored social media campaign. Men aged 18 to 35, who are among the most likely to be in breach of social distancing guidelines, are understood to be a particular focus of the campaign, which also targets the broader population. As well as warning that people face being fined £60 on the spot by the police if they fail to follow social distancing from strangers, the appeal strongly focuses on saving lives by reducing the impact on the NHS. There was an early indication that an Easter getaway might not materialise as images released by the location technology firm TomTom showed a dramatic fall in traffic levels for London, Manchester and Birmingham on Thursday compared with the equivalent day last year. But concerns about the coming days were heightened by new data, based on people who consented to having their movements tracked by Google, showing that visits to parks increased last weekend compared with two weeks ago. Chief nursing officer Ruth May spoke at Friday’s Covid 19 Downing Street briefing of her “enormous frustration” at how some people were clearly not respecting social distancing or coming out in large numbers and said she had seen a “horde” of cyclists crossing Westminster Bridge as she made her way to the event. She added: “The reason it’s also frustrating is that there are still occasions where my colleagues are getting abuse from their neighbours for driving off to work.” It came amid warnings that some police forces could move to an “enforcement phase” from a current approach of just issuing advice to people breaking rules, and the first minister of Wales said restrictions could get worse if people flout social distancing rules. Dr Paul Cosford, medical director for Public Health England, called for people to stay at home over Easter because social distancing measures are working. “People are complying [with the measures] in a very large majority and the impact that is having is that transmission is much, much less than it would otherwise be,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain. A picture was meanwhile emerging of differing police responses, sometimes guided by their demographics and relationships with local communities. In London, where the Metropolitan police is understood to be taking a less hands-on approach, in contrast to forces in other parts of the country, action nevertheless included the closure by local authorities of a pitch and putt course in Queen’s Park due to people sunbathing and gathering in groups of more than two. In Wales, where police had said that some visitors were travelling along B-roads at night to evade them - officers were investigating reports that second homeowners have been sending ahead their luggage using courier services so that if they were stopped in their car on the way they could plead innocence. Police were stopping drivers on their way south through Conway on Friday to check they were not holidaymakers heading for the Llyn Peninsula, Anglesey or any other popular tourist destination. Some English incomers still managed to get through. S4C Welsh television featured a stand-off between an angry local resident and a couple staying at an Airbnb property in Snowdonia. “How dare you come to this village and dare spread this, there’s a lot of old people here and sick people. How stupid are you?” shouted the local resident at the couple, who had travelled 182 miles from Oxford in the south of England to Penmachno, near Betws-y-Coed in Conwy. At lunchtime on Friday, Lancashire road police reported a “noticeable increase” in traffic. “Please ask yourself if your journey is essential. We’ve engaged and educated a number of you today but the message remains @stayhomesavelives” the force tweeted. They also reported stopping a driver who had travelled more than 20 miles to Lytham, near Blackpool, “to buy Easter eggs”. Cumbria roads police said it had also only used “words of advice” by midday on Friday, tweeting “the fells and lakes will be here when this is over”. In North Yorkshire, police in Scarborough tweeted photos of a deserted seafront as well as the near-deserted A64 to Malton. In Merseyside, local officers reported New Brighton promenade was also empty. But social media also underlined the problems of policing. Cambridgeshire police deleted a tweet saying they were patrolling around supermarkets, insisting it was not monitoring what people were buying, while South Yorkshire police apologised after a video circulating on social media appeared to show an officer reprimanding a man for using his own front lawn. • Coronavirus and volunteering: how can I help in the UK? • This article was amended on 10 April 2020. An incorrect Cabinet Office press release led to an earlier version wrongly stating that Ian Wright and Katherine Ryan were supporting the government-sponsored campaign.