Sunday, August 16, 2020
How to make a last-minute quarantine worse
Many people holidaying in France were caught out by the announcement that a two-week quarantine would await them on their return if they arrived in the UK after 4am yesterday. As a result many paid huge amounts of money for transport options they could have got at a fifth of the price a few days early, to cut their vacation short and beat the deadline.
Spare a thought though for those who booked their return tickets on the basis of an interview given by Transport Minister, Grant Shapps to Sky. As the Guardian reports, Shapps sowed confusion on Thursday night by apparently giving out the wrong information, suggesting the quarantine measures would be coming into force on Sunday when, in fact, they are doing so 20 hours earlier:
Shapps said during a TV interview that people arriving in the UK from France would have to isolate for 14 days from Sunday, but the move is actually coming into force at 4am on Saturday.
Meanwhile, in a swiftly deleted tweet referencing the imposition of the measures, Shapps declared at 10.45pm on Thursday: “It’s Saturday at 4am, meaning that anyone returning on Sunday onwards will need to quarantine.”
The Guardian has been told some holidaymakers mistakenly booked return trips later on Saturday after seeing Shapps’s interview, meaning they would arrive after the measures came into effect.
During the TV interview, Shapps said: “Well, the French government have said that unfortunately the virus has been going the wrong way there.
“There’s been a 66% increase in the number of positive tests in the last week alone. And so, unfortunately, France is having to be added to the quarantine list. That means if you’re coming back from France then you must self-isolate for 14 days when you come back from Sunday.”
The measures also apply to people arriving from, among other countries, the Netherlands, Malta, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Aruba and Monaco.
The broadcaster Andrew Neil, whose tweet to Shapps asking about the timing of the measures prompted the now deleted tweet, was characteristically unsparing in his criticism. Neil wrote on Twitter: “I fear the transport minister didn’t know what he was talking about.”
In another tweet, Neil said: “Transport minister Shapps has just deleted his tweet to me. I suspect he thought 4am Saturday was early Sunday morning. It’s not. It’s 4am Saturday.”
The paper recants the story of one woman, who told them that her brother-in-law and family were staying with her in France and were due to leave on Monday but, after seeing Shapps’s TV interview, quickly paid £230 to book a Eurotunnel ticket for Saturday afternoon:
Amanda Hill said: “They were of course shocked to wake up to find out the quarantine starts from 4am tomorrow morning. They are of course extremely upset and angry and now have to quarantine with six-year-old twins. Why hasn’t he acknowledged his mistake and the impact it has had?”
Surely, such ineptitude requires some sanction.
Spare a thought though for those who booked their return tickets on the basis of an interview given by Transport Minister, Grant Shapps to Sky. As the Guardian reports, Shapps sowed confusion on Thursday night by apparently giving out the wrong information, suggesting the quarantine measures would be coming into force on Sunday when, in fact, they are doing so 20 hours earlier:
Shapps said during a TV interview that people arriving in the UK from France would have to isolate for 14 days from Sunday, but the move is actually coming into force at 4am on Saturday.
Meanwhile, in a swiftly deleted tweet referencing the imposition of the measures, Shapps declared at 10.45pm on Thursday: “It’s Saturday at 4am, meaning that anyone returning on Sunday onwards will need to quarantine.”
The Guardian has been told some holidaymakers mistakenly booked return trips later on Saturday after seeing Shapps’s interview, meaning they would arrive after the measures came into effect.
During the TV interview, Shapps said: “Well, the French government have said that unfortunately the virus has been going the wrong way there.
“There’s been a 66% increase in the number of positive tests in the last week alone. And so, unfortunately, France is having to be added to the quarantine list. That means if you’re coming back from France then you must self-isolate for 14 days when you come back from Sunday.”
The measures also apply to people arriving from, among other countries, the Netherlands, Malta, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Aruba and Monaco.
The broadcaster Andrew Neil, whose tweet to Shapps asking about the timing of the measures prompted the now deleted tweet, was characteristically unsparing in his criticism. Neil wrote on Twitter: “I fear the transport minister didn’t know what he was talking about.”
In another tweet, Neil said: “Transport minister Shapps has just deleted his tweet to me. I suspect he thought 4am Saturday was early Sunday morning. It’s not. It’s 4am Saturday.”
The paper recants the story of one woman, who told them that her brother-in-law and family were staying with her in France and were due to leave on Monday but, after seeing Shapps’s TV interview, quickly paid £230 to book a Eurotunnel ticket for Saturday afternoon:
Amanda Hill said: “They were of course shocked to wake up to find out the quarantine starts from 4am tomorrow morning. They are of course extremely upset and angry and now have to quarantine with six-year-old twins. Why hasn’t he acknowledged his mistake and the impact it has had?”
Surely, such ineptitude requires some sanction.
