£10,000 for a Houseparty?

I am uncomfortable with the £10,000 fixed penalty notice issued to a student whose party got out of hand. I hope his Dad takes legal advice before writing out that cheque. Thing about Fixed Penalty Notices is that nobody is obliged to pay them. All an FPN does is give the recipient the opportunity to buy their way out of the risk of prosecution. Paying £50 to avoid prosecution might be a bargain. But £10,000? The other thing is that Covid Regulation offences are not that easy to prove. There are too many ‘ifs and buts’. Too many loopholes for the determined defence-attorney. There are the statutory exemptions. The ‘reasonable excuses’. The ‘proportionality’ issues. And even if the offence is proved, there are the ‘mitigating circumstances’.