[ViajeroUK]

Good subject Martyn

Q1 YES, Border restrictions should have been strictly tightened months ago, maybe a case of better late than never?

Q2 YES, costs payable by traveller as in Asia, not UK Gov.

Q3 NO, but with so many operators tempting potential holidaymakers with offers of free changes or refunds on any booking, you can understand why people are
tempted to make plans.

Q4 NO, If it becomes a requirement for a vaccination certificate before travel (like Yellow Fever certificate requirement for some countries) then maybe a NON
NHS vaccination might be required at a private clinic, but only when vaccines become widely available. Can’t imagine NHS providing retrospective
certificates.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Bullfrog, DavidSmith2

[rferguson]

Hotel quarantine would never work here unless they severely restrict the number of arrivals by placing a cap. This is the only way Australia is able to manage the hotel quarantine. There are literally only a few thousand Australians that can arrive per week. And severe restrictions on departures FROM Australia as well.

Then there is the question of forcing people to pay for it. Is it moral to apply it retrospectively? If I left the UK yesterday and Monday the UK announces I will need to pay £2.5K for hotel quarantine is this fair? Again, this worked in Australia because the govt footed the bill for a long period of time. I can never see that happening in the UK.

IMHO what would work much better is wearable tracking devices for quarantine as they do in several countries around the world. Far more cost effective.

The whole government handling of COVID in the UK has been an absolute pathetic shambles. And what irks me most is that the politicians almost try and shame the public in being responsible for the appalling COVID figures in this country.

I’m sure it’s fine for most of them living in their large homes in some leafy suburb with family and a garden. How many people in London live like that? So many are in flat shares where there isn’t even a living room let alone a garden.

[Bullfrog]

Having spoken to friends in Australia, passengers arriving with negative PCR tests are quarantining in government run hotels at their own personal expense, and some are then testing positive after 14 days.

So I am not sure 10 days is enough.

There are also reports suggesting that a positive PCR test may arise after the virus has been contagious, and a person was symptomless. That in itself is a flawed test, as that person has to then isolate.

No one really appears to know anything.

[MartynSinclair]

Quote from last nights Downing Street briefing from Matt Hancock, made when answering a question from the press:

“the lockdown rules means that it is illegal to travel abroad unless you have one of the reasonable excuses that is set out in the legislation”

Today Paul Charles, chief executive of travel consultancy, The PR Agency said on Sky News “around 15,000 travellers are coming into the UK everyday at the moment”.

In Parliament Priti Patel is blaming the Q’s at Heathrow on the checks being finally made at our borders.

The one number I cant find is the number of passengers leaving UK airports/sea ports/train stations

Irrespective of whether you are for or against the 10 day hotel quarantine and further border controls – it feels very odd, that 2 women can be fined £200 for going for a walk whilst drinking a cup of coffee (fine later rescinded), yet there are no checks being made at our airports/sea ports/train stations, questioning whether passengers are travelling for a legitimate reason. I guess all will be revealed at 5pm today by Boris.

Congratulations to the NHS for putting 6.5 million shots in peoples arms as of lunch time today. Truly remarkable….

[canucklad]

[quote quote=1090126]Irrespective of whether you are for or against the 10 day hotel quarantine and further border controls – it feels very odd, that 2 women can be fined £200 for going for a walk whilst drinking a cup of coffee (fine later rescinded), yet there are no checks being made at our airports/sea ports/train stations, questioning whether passengers are travelling for a legitimate reason. I guess all will be revealed at 5pm today by Boris.[/quote]

Actually the most odd of all the humming and hawing decisions and top of the inexplicable travel rules that absolutely nobody can explain or more importantly justify .

I can’t travel to my office 3 miles away but if i needed to head to Bangalore ?
I can’t attend a funeral at my local kirk, but if the grim reaper does his deed in Kenya , then ?
I can’t visit my family on the other side of the hills, but come up with a reasonable excuse then off to family in foreign lands it is ?

Simply put — What you can’t do here, you shouldn’t be able to abroad !!

[cwoodward]

The situation in the UK has been utter madness for the past year. Had the joint been properly closed down from last February as was New Zealand (also an island) almost certainly many thousands of lives would have been saved. Possibly the UKs dithering was no worse than the absolute worst (USA?) but it surely fell far far short of the best and for no reason that is understandable to me. Ineptitude at its worst!

[SimonS1]

I returned to the UK yesterday. Flight from Dubai about 25% full (the new PE on Emirates is quite smart).

On arrival at Heathrow there were 6 officials at the start of the immigration queue. 3 shouting loudly and 3 checking each passenger’s Covid test and locator form (it wasn’t checked to my passport).

Straight to the egates, bags about 15 mins and then the train. I had a carriage to myself on Heathrow Express and then the train to Brighton. I did see a handful of people on the tube.

The cabbie who dropped me off was a part time taxi driver who also worked in the local A&E.

All in all quite a painless journey. No evidence of Police checks apart from one PSO at Paddington Tube but I wasn’t stopped or questioned.

[TominScotland]

I have a friend who manages a quarantine hotel in New Zealand, located city centre. He is running 80%+ occupancy and is the envy of his industry colleagues!! ‘Guests’ can leave the hotel to exercise within a fenced area around the hotel which is patrolled and controlled by the army – ie. guests cannot leave the compound. Effective but reminds me a bit of ghettos of the past….

[canucklad]

[quote quote=1089862]1. Should our borders be closed or heavily restricted for passenger traffic (not cargo)?[/quote]

[quote quote=1089922]3. Holidays – should people be booking holidays with the expectation they MUST go at all costs?[/quote]

Answer to 2 of your questions not just confined to us here on the Forum .

Seems that Nicola and Pritti are jumping on the band wagon and answering your questions as well Martyn
Instructing us not to book holidays abroad this year. I wonder if that request will become a rule , followed by legislation ?
And if no one is allowed to leave these shores , logic should follow that we shouldn’t be allowing those pesky virus infested foreigners with bulging wallets and purses to land on our sacred shores this summer either .

Total shambles and seems that our leaders and their scientists have fallen into a terminal (pun intended) state of acceptance and malaise caused by an acquiescence of lockdown normality.

Very worrying for the future as they yet again dim the light and hope in this perpetual long growing tunnel

[MartynSinclair]

[quote quote=1090240]I wonder if that request will become a rule , followed by legislation ?[/quote]

I can only respond by suggesting you listen to both Matt Hancocks words (see my post above) – and Pritti Patels words in Parliament a couple of days ago. Both available on You Tube.

The shame is the Government, airlines and airports were so complicit in allowing people to breach tier 4 lock down rules and making airports so accessible and usable over the Christmas period and questioning why so many people including a Celtic Football club found it so necessary and vital to travel to Dubai.

The surprise in Priti’s voice when she says “it is clear that too many people are coming in and out of our country each day” – she was born for the west end / Broadway stage….

By the way, when does the hotel quarantine actually start…. ?

1 user thanked author for this post.

PeterCoultas

[AMcWhirter]

[quote quote=1090270]By the way, when does the hotel quarantine actually start…. ?[/quote]

Paul Charles tweeted yesterday evening about this. He said, “New measures likely to start week of 8th February.”

Perhaps there will be an announcement from the govt later this afternoon/

[rferguson]

What is sad is this will become a case of the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.

The wealthy will obviously find loopholes to exploit and travel.

I watched some pathetic ‘influencer’ being interviewed on This Morning the other day claiming that her trip to Dubai was a valid business trip because she wanted a nice inspiring backdrop for her daily instagram videos. She says it’s ‘work’.

And we will have the ‘vaccinated’ and ‘non-vaccinated’. Soon we will have those that have received their second dose asking ‘why do I still have to follow the rules’.

[MartynSinclair]

[quote quote=1090300]The wealthy will obviously find loopholes to exploit and travel.[/quote]

Not sure it is just the wealthy who are looking for the loopholes….

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9192661/Holidaymakers-vow-new-quarantine-rules-driving-Portugal-Spain.html

[quote quote=1090288]“New measures likely to start week of 8th February.”[/quote]

wow…. clearly not an emergency then….

[canucklad]

[quote quote=1090300]What is sad is this will become a case of the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’.[/quote]

A consequence of being in lockdown is the inevitable result that your world view , whether by accident or choice becomes self-limiting to our own selfish beliefs and opinions . Inevitably receiving and filtering information that comforts us in our own belief system.

I suspect that most of us on here are comfortably well off, see house arrest as an inconvenience and have our fingers metaphorically hovering above the book button on various airline and holiday sites , ready to spend all that cash we’ve saved up during our multiple lockdowns. Easy to be judgemental of others whose actions we don’t agree with.

As I mentioned earlier this creeping acceptance of our fate is easier to do when you fall into the above category. Personally ,Lest I forget the friends and people I know that are reliant on the pubs, clubs and eating establishments being open . Add in, those in the aviation sector , many who have now lost their jobs and reliant on the minimal state handouts and it’s a sorry picture indeed.

It’s incumbent that those in power ensure that any solution they come up with , will allow all to travel. Whether it be those who can only afford a £9.99 Ryanscare flight to those happy to fork out a lavish amount to luxuriate in BA’ s First Class cabin.

As for BoJo and Nic, they need to step up and give everybody hope that doors are opening rather than the current trend of slamming them shut, some for good.

Martyn , here’s the Celtic managers infamous interview defending the trip to Dubai …..

[KSHaggag]

The KLM intention ,as far as I understood was to suspend ” temporarily ” flights to/from South Africa and South America and NOT ALL the longhaul routes .

KLM was the ONLY airline in Europe ,let alone the world that kept flying even at the start of the pandemic last February when most airlines were ailing ;the Dutch are excellent at doing business and very smart at reaching the right balance between business and health measures .Closing down completely and staying in bed is in my humble opinion a NO SOLUTION to what we are facing nowadays .

[Author]

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