Priti Patel has insisted that the government’s plans to quarantine overseas passengers is ‘not my plan’.
The Home Secretary shared her stance on the matter as Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary today said he believed the rule will be struck down by the courts or dropped by the end of this week.
The 14-day quarantine for international arrivals, introduced on Monday, has led to the most vociferous clash between major airlines and the UK government during the COVID-19 crisis.
However now some of Europe’s biggest airline veterans, such as IAG’s Willie Walsh and Mr O’Leary, are preparing to file a joint legal challenge by the end of Tuesday arguing the scheme is illegal on the grounds that it is discriminatory, irrational and disproportionate.
They complain it was drawn up without consultation even though it could destroy attempts to rebuild their businesses.
Mr O’Leary said he hoped a court would hear an emergency legal challenge by the end of this week to halt the quarantine – imposed just as most European countries were reopening their economies.
Home Secretary Priti Patel has today insisted that the plans to quarantine overseas passengers for 14 days amid the pandemic is ‘not my plan’ but ‘a government plan’
A passenger at a temperature check area at Manchester Airport this morning
The airline chief said: ‘I think in their heart of hearts, the government would like the courts to strike it down because it would get them off the hook. I think either the courts will strike it down this week or the government will quietly drop it before the end of June.’
Today Labour’s shadow Home Office minister Conor McGinn asked: ‘The scientists say the quarantine introduced today has come too late.
‘The police says it’s unenforceable. The tourism and aviation industry say it will ruin them and the Home Secretary’s own department has said it is very hard to imagine how it will practically work.
‘In contrast, our proposal for a 48-hour testing-led model would be targeted, efficient and keep the country open for business.
‘Can the Home Secretary explain to the House how her plan is better and why the Government think it’s right and everybody else is wrong?’
Ms Patel responded: ‘First of all, this is not my plan. This is a Government plan and Government policy, and I think in terms of the approach that has been taken, the Government has maintained throughout this pandemic that medical and scientific advice in terms of border measures are consistent and are now being applied.’
The legal action, proposed by British Airways and supported by low-cost rivals Ryanair and easyJet , is seeking injunctive relief and legal papers are due to be filed on Monday or Tuesday, he added.
Lawyer Tom Snelling, at Signature Litigation, said the government would have to show the measure was anchored in scientific evidence and not politics.
Slow to introduce lockdown measures and with one of the highest death tolls in the world, at more than 50,000, Britain argues a quarantine is needed to prevent a second surge of COVID-19.
The government did not respond to O’Leary’s remarks.
Passengers arrive at Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in London today, as new quarantine measures for international arrivals come into force
Passengers queue to check in at Manchester Airport today as new quarantine rules come in
The quarantine imposes fines of up to 1,000 pounds ($1,270) for any breaches.
However the three airlines believe the measure is ineffective as passengers can still board public transport on leaving an airport, and it is hard to enforce.
Walsh, the head of BA-owner IAG, told LBC Radio they would argue the legislation was irrational, while easyJet boss Johan Lundgren said it had been rushed through.
‘It’s not in proportion,’ Lundgren told Sky News.
The quarantine will be reviewed every three weeks, the government says. It is also looking at ‘air bridges’ that allow tourists to travel between two countries without needing to quarantine.
Mr Snelling added: ‘It wouldn’t be that surprising if we’re looking actually at a slightly different type of measure fairly soon, possibly even within the first three-week review cycle.’
Mr O’Leary said Britons were booking outbound flights for holidays despite the quarantine, but Europeans were not coming to Britain.
Earlier today Mr O’Leary said air passengers arriving in Britain will simply ignore the new ‘rubbish’ quarantine rules.
British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair told the Government the scheme launched this morning was illegal because it was discriminatory, irrational and disproportionate.
Businesses have raised fresh concerns over how the plans will be enforced, with one group of 500 campaigning travel firms claiming it has ‘more holes than a sieve’.
Heathrow Airport chief John Holland-Kaye warned the scheme will hasten the loss of up to 25,000 jobs and hinder Britain’s ability ‘to fight for our place in the world’.
And Channel Tunnel boss Jacques Gounon said it had been fraught with problems due to its late introduction last week and accused Ministers of ‘intransigence’.
Mr O’Leary said today his airline will be flying a full schedule in July and August, claiming: ‘The flights are full outbound of the UK. British people are ignoring this quarantine, they know it’s rubbish’.
He added: ‘You could be in Sainsbury’s, you could be on the beach, you could be on the golf course in the unlikely event the Home Office calls you – all they will have is a mobile number.
‘Even the Home Office, Priti Patel’s own office, confirmed it’s unimplementable. It’s bonkers, there’s no scientific evidence for this quarantine, it’s completely ineffective – it’s useless’.
He also pointed out that arriving passengers would be getting straight onto public transport to reach their destination even if they did go into quarantine, and therefore defeating the point because they would come into contact with many other people.
And Mr O’Leary told BBC Radio’s 4 Today programme: ‘What it is going to do is untold devastation, not just to the airlines but to British tourism.
‘The thousands of hotels, the thousands of visitor attractions, restaurants in the next couple of months – July and August are the two key months for British tourism in the tourism industry.
‘We’re facing thousands of jobs losses because of a stupid, ineffective quarantine.’
He said Ryanair bookings were down about 50 per cent on the same time last year but that outbound flights remained popular compared with inbound journeys, with European travellers being put off coming to the UK due to the restrictions to self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival.
Meanwhile, furious airline chiefs wrote to Home Secretary Priti Patel demanding that plans for ‘air bridges’ with other countries be drawn up within days.
Last night she defended the quarantine, saying: ‘We all want to return to normal as quickly as possible. But this cannot be at the expense of lives.
‘The science is clear that if we limit the risk of new cases being brought in from abroad, we can help stop a devastating second wave. That is why the measures coming into force today are necessary.’
British Airways, easyJet (whose chief executive Johan Lundgren is pictured in March) and Ryanair have told the Government the scheme launched this morning is illegal
Under the scheme, all travellers arriving in Britain – including returning UK holidaymakers – will have to self-isolate for a fortnight. It applies to air, rail and sea passengers who face on-the-spot fines if caught breaking the rules.
But critics say it is ‘unworkable’ due to a number of loopholes.
Unions also added to the criticism, branding the scheme a ‘populist move’ with no scientific basis. Labour added that the measures appeared to show the Government ‘just hasn’t got a plan’.
Mr Holland-Kaye led the criticism last night, saying the industry needs ‘more targeted’ measures and warned that he had heard of one UK airport facing bankruptcy in ‘days’.
He added: ‘What we’ve heard already from the airlines is that they are cutting around a third of all employees, so that would be 25,000 people out of work. That would be a devastating blow.’
The Heathrow chief executive said the aviation industry was in ‘survival mode and having to make unpalatable decisions’
He also told The City View podcast: ‘I don’t think we should make their jobs harder for them by putting further hurdles [like this quarantine] in their way. We will need to fight as a country for our place in the world.’
Countries already interested in striking quarantine-free ‘travel corridors’ with Britain to get tourism going again include Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece.
Travel firms complain that they were issued with details of the strict new rules late on Friday, leaving them only 48 hours to ensure they are in place.
Mr Gounon, chief executive of Getlink which owns the Channel Tunnel, sent a scathing letter to Boris Johnson.
He wrote: ‘Limited consultation by the Home Office and departmental intransigence have led to a situation that puts a serious risk on the efficiency of operations at the Channel Tunnel, a vital link in the Great British supply chain.’
In a joint statement, British Airways, Ryanair and easyJet warned that they were prepared to take their legal action further.
They added: ‘These measures are disproportionate and unfair on British citizens as well as international visitors arriving in the UK.
‘We urge the UK Government to remove this ineffective visitor quarantine which will have a devastating effect on the UK’s tourism industry and will destroy (even more) thousands of jobs in this unprecedented crisis.’
The 23-page document of measures sent to travel bosses on Friday states that the airlines are ‘not asked to require passengers to complete the passenger form or refuse boarding if not completed’.
With only ‘spot checks’ to be carried out by an already depleted Border Force, there are fears many arrivals could simply slip through unchallenged, particularly those using e-gates.
Travellers arriving in Britain will be allowed to stay overnight at a hotel or other accommodation before going to the address where they have said they will self-isolate.
Critics also say passengers can jump straight on to public transport after arriving, meaning the virus could be spread anyway.
They say the list of exemptions for being able to break the 14-day self-isolation is open to interpretation.
There are also fears it will be easy to dodge being caught as health officials will only chase up a small proportion of arrivals on the phone.
Paul Charles, co-leader of Quash Quarantine, a group of 500 travel firms, said: ‘There are more holes than in a sieve in this unworkable, poorly-thought and economically damaging Government policy.’
Jim McMahon, Labour’s transport spokesman, added: ‘Our real concern is that the Government just hasn’t got a plan. They seem to go from one extreme to another. There were no restrictions up until only a couple of days ago.’
Ministers will review the policy every three weeks, meaning the first opportunity for ‘air bridges’ is on June 29.
A Government spokesman said: ‘We are exploring whether we can introduce agreements with other countries when safe to do so, allowing UK residents to go abroad and tourists to come here without facing quarantine on arrival.
‘We recognise the challenges facing the aviation sector… and have put in place a comprehensive package of financial support.’
Quarantine? What quarantine? Passengers saunter through borders unchecked and head straight to WORK on busy Tubes on first day of ‘quarantine’ as Home Office ADMITS they’ll only quiz ‘manifestly’ made-up names on forms
By Vivek Chaudhary, Martin Robinson and Mark Duell for MailOnline
Passengers arriving at London Heathrow Airport criticised the UK’s new quarantine rules today, claiming that they are unenforceable and will be difficult to police.
Under the new rules, which came into force today, all those arriving in Britain – including UK nationals – will be asked to provide an address where they will self-isolate for 14 days. Travellers can be fined £100 for failing to fill in a form with these details.
Passengers on three flights different flights arriving at Heathrow from the US told MailOnline that they were asked to fill in an online form ahead of their journey, detailing where they will be staying.
Upon arrival, they were asked by immigration controllers the details they had provided on the form, but no specific checks were carried out to verify it.
There was also confusion over the use of electronic ‘e gates’.
At Heathrow, the gates – used to check passports electronically – were in operation in Terminal Five but not at the airport’s other terminals.
The Home Office told MailOnline it was up to individual airports whether they choose to use them.
Dennis White said: ‘Passengers arriving at Heathrow Airport are passing through border control manned by a single officer. E-machines are not in use.’
Meanwhile a spokesperson for Manchester Airport told MailOnline that its e-gates are operational today. As chaos builds following the launch of the plans:
- Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary today said air passengers arriving in Britain will simply ignore the new ‘rubbish’ quarantine rules;
- British Airways, easyJet and Ryanair told the Government the scheme is illegal because it is discriminatory, irrational and disproportionate;
- Channel Tunnel boss Jacques Gounon said it had been fraught with problems due to its late introduction last week and accused Ministers of ‘intransigence’;
- Heathrow Airport chief John Holland-Kaye warned the scheme will hasten the loss of up to 25,000 jobs and hinder Britain’s ability ‘to fight for our place in the world’;
- Unions also added to the criticism, branding the scheme a ‘populist move’ with no scientific basis, while Labour added that the measures appeared to show the Government ‘just hasn’t got a plan’.
Jane Mason, 49, who had arrived on a British Airways flight from Washington, said: ‘I could have been lying the whole time and to be honest, nobody is real
Passengers Guy Potter and Sarah Hartstein arrive at Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport today
Passengers arrive at Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in London today, as new quarantine measures for international arrivals come into force
Britney Medina (left) and Jane Mason (right) were both passengers arriving at Heathrow today. Ms Mason, 49, who had arrived on a British Airways flight from Washington, said: ‘I could have been lying the whole time and to be honest, nobody is really checking’
Another woman arriving at Heathrow today, who did not wish to be named, said: ‘I’m returning home so it’s not going to be a problem quarantining. I’ve given all my details but they didn’t seem to check them properly’
‘I completed the online form before I left and when I arrived at Heathrow the immigration official asked me to repeat the address where I said I would be quarantining. After that he just let me pass and didn’t check at all if what I had put down is true.’
Ms Mason, a writer, revealed that she would be staying in quarantine in a private residence in central London rented for her by her publisher.
She said that she was travelling to it via pubic transport, which the Government has strongly advised against ‘unless there is no other option.’
She said: ‘No other option is the ‘get out of jail card. Nobody has arranged to pick me up so I’m going to get on the Heathrow Express. I probably shouldn’t be doing that, but I have no other choice.
Dennis White, 62, landed at Heathrow Airport from Washington DC, after almost three months marooned in North Carolina with his wife Denise
Passengers arriving at Heathrow Airport today as new measures mandating 14-day quarantine is brought into action
A sign outlining ‘temperature check trial’ measures at Heathrow Airport today ‘to aid detection of elevated body temperatures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic’
‘This quarantine system is going to be difficult to enforce. Are they really going to carry out spot checks to make sure people are in quarantine? Have they got the time and the personnel for that?’
Before boarding the train, Ms Mason revealed that she was only going to be in the UK for three weeks, two of which will be spent in quarantine.
One traveller who arrived from Washington, wearing a black baseball hat and mask, headed straight to Heathrow’s underground station insisting that he was going to work.
When informed that he is meant to quarantine, he fumed: ‘If Boris wants us to stay off public transport then he should arrange taxis for us all. I’ve got to get to work and don’t want to say anything else.’
Fiona Gathright, 59 who also arrived from Washington said: ‘It’s not going to be easy to enforce this quarantine system. It relies on people to be honest and it is easy to lie, both on the online form and when you arrive because there are no thorough checks being carried out if you’ve told the truth.’
Ms Gathright revealed that she will be quarantining in a flat in Bristol that she owns and will be staying in the UK for two months. She arranged to travel there in a taxi.
She added: ‘I’ll be in my flat and I promise you, I will quarantine. But I really don’t think anybody is going to turn up to check.’
Britney Medina, 27, a doctor, who arrived from Los Angeles for a six-week stay in Britain to visit friends and family said: ‘I think the quarantine system is not necessary and not enforceable.
‘The UK authorities are relying on people to be honest. It’s a moral question if you are going to tell the truth and stick to quarantining for two weeks. I’m not sure if most people will do it.’
Ms Medina, who is staying in rented accommodation in central London added: ‘The immigration officer just asked me to repeat the details that I had put down on my online form. They need to do more checks before letting people into the country.’
Michael Cohen, who had arrived from Germany, said: ‘There were quite long queues when we arrived because a lot of passengers like me didn’t know that the new rules started today.
‘Many of us had to complete the online form at the last minute. I’m lucky because I live in Britain, but if you were coming for a short visit, you’d be in trouble.’
Kulwinder Sahota, who had arrived from Toronto to visit family, added: ‘There was a lot of confusion and long queues. Immigration officials were asking a lot of questions about where people are planning to quarantine and many people had not filled in their online forms properly.
‘The whole thing is a bit of a mess to be honest. If I’d known it was going to be like this, I wouldn’t have travelled.’
One passenger arriving at Heathrow from Tel Aviv spoke of ‘chaos’ as his plane landed, telling the London Evening Standard: ‘I had no idea of the quarantine. When I arrived there were long queues.’
Sarah Hartstein and Guy Potter, who landed at Heathrow from Los Angeles this morning, said they were going straight into self-isolation in Croydon, South London.
Ms Hartstein said there had been some delays upon arriving, telling the Standard: ‘There was quite a lot of confusion and people were being held up.’
Dennis White, 62, landed at Heathrow Airport from Washington DC, after almost three months marooned in North Carolina with his wife Denise.
Polish couple Chris and Katie Chojnacki, both 40, were returning to the UK on the 2pm crossing to Dover after visiting family in their homeland last month.
They had tickets to return on Sunday before the quarantine was introduced but said the crossing at Calais was so busy that they couldn’t travel, instead forced to spend the night in a hotel with their two young children.
The family now face two weeks in quarantine at their Manchester home and had to give their address in a form at Dover so their quarantine can be checked during an unannounced visit.
Mrs Chojnacki said: ‘In Calais they were making sure they had all our details of where we were staying and who we were.Then we had to fill in another form when we got to Dover with our address and personal details so they can check we are actually quarantining.
‘Sunday was crazy cause we had our tickets but when we got there they said they are only allowing a certain amount of people on. Then we were left with no help to find a place to stay. We didn’t fancy a whole night in the car park so found a hotel.
‘It was very stressful with the two children but we are just glad to be back.’
Her husband added: ‘There must have been a sudden rush to get home before these quarantine rules came in and annoyingly we just missed it by a few hours.
‘The whole of Europe is now open so why has the UK suddenly decided to close? They should have done this three months ago. It’s too late now.
‘When we went to Poland in May, we had to go into isolation and go through all the checks but the UK had none of that.Now we are coming back they have finally decided to introduce it when the rest of Europe has stopped. It makes no sense.’
People arriving at Stansted Airport, on a flight from Eindhoven in the Netherlands, were among the first to land in the UK since the new rule came into force.
People arriving at Stansted Airport, on a flight from Eindhoven in the Netherlands, were among the first to land in the UK since the new rule came into force. Shopkeeper Netti Rexhmet, 32, who runs an off-licence in Chigwell, said: ‘We haven’t got any other options, it’s Government law so I shall do it. For me, I wouldn’t want to do it. I’d like to be open’
Ali Gurlek (pictured), 30, a software developer from London who spent the weekend visiting friends in the Netherlands, speaks to media at Stansted Airport in London. He criticised the new measures as lacking in ‘common sense
Shopkeeper Netti Rexhmet, 32, who runs an off-licence in Chigwell in north-east London, said he feels the measure is ‘not right’ but that he will comply with it.
‘We haven’t got any other options, it’s Government law so I shall do it,’ he said. ‘For me, I wouldn’t want to do it. I’d like to be open.
‘I’ve got things to do, you have to live now, you have to pay.’
He said he will be unable to work while self-isolating, adding: ‘We will have to wait to see what other plans they’re going to do, the Government. Maybe they will change and take this one off. I think it’s too much.’
Ali Gurlek, 30, a software developer from London who spent the weekend visiting friends in the Netherlands, criticised the measures as lacking in ‘common sense’.
‘Now we’re going to use public transport,’ he said. ‘If we have it then it’s going to spread that. It doesn’t look very common sense.’
Kamil Farah, 24, from East Ham, London, said: ‘I don’t want to do it but I have to for the better good.
‘There’s a lot of people dying and a lot of things happened this year.’
The policy looks destined to fail after a leaked Home Office memo revealed that only those giving ‘manifestly’ false names such as ‘Mickey Mouse’ or addresses including ‘Buckingham Palace’ are likely to be followed up.
Mr O’Leary said today his airline will be flying a full schedule in July and August, claiming: ‘The flights are full outbound of the UK. British people are ignoring this quarantine, they know it’s rubbish’.
He added: ‘You could be in Sainsbury’s, you could be on the beach, you could be on the golf course in the unlikely event the Home Office calls you – all they will have is a mobile number.
‘Even the Home Office, Priti Patel’s own office, confirmed it’s unimplementable. It’s bonkers, there’s no scientific evidence for this quarantine, it’s completely ineffective – it’s useless’.
Passengers social distance as they queue at the Eurostar terminal at London St Pancras today
Passengers wearing PPE fill out forms at Eurostar’s departures area at London St Pancras today
‘We were stuck there, worrying about not being able to fly home. You can’t get in contact with anybody in the British Government, and when you do they just palm you off to someone else. It was just a merry go round. Just ridiculous and frustrating. The Americans were much more than helpful.’
Mr White, of Portsmouth, was only due to spend a two week holiday in the States, but ended up relying on help from kind local residents after repeated flights were cancelled.
The couple flew out with Finnish airline Finnair, and were due to return on a rescheduled flight with American Airlines one week after their holiday ended, but that was cancelled too.
The pair ended up paying £1,800 for a one way flight with British Airways to return today. Mr White added: ‘Our ESTAs ran out today. We go to the US a lot so we wanted to come back before they expired.
‘We had a five hour drive to Washington DC because they are not operating international flights from North Carolina. As far as I know, there are only four airports doing international flights in the US.’
The builder and his wife, an NHS support worker, have vowed to stick to the new quarantine order in place from today.
He said: ‘We have to go back to our home to self isolate. It’s not something that I want to do, but if I have to do it I will.
‘I don’t know how I am going to keep myself occupied. I haven’t had to self quarantine in the States because we were in the countryside. Apart from animals, there were no humans around us.
‘It’s a bit different being back here surrounded by the general public.’
Mr White said he struggled to understand how the UK government will enforce the quarantine, and was ‘confused’ why they were allowed to travel on shuttle buses in close proximity to others.
The father-of-three added: ‘I don’t see how it is possible for the government to keep track of all the arrivals. I’m confused.
‘When we landed we had to get on a shuttle to go to the terminal. At least 20 people on the bus in a confined space. So I don’t see how they can control it.
Passengers queue to check in at Manchester Airport today as new quarantine rules come in
‘The quarantine doesn’t make sense if you are allowed to get on a bus full of people. But we will abide by the rules. If it’s what we have to do, that’s what we have to do.’
His wife works at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, where human resources staff are said to have told her to go back in.
Mr White said: ‘They have told her it is OK to return to work. This was last Friday.
‘She is going to phone the HR worker at the hospital when she gets back. I don’t see how she can go to work.’
Passengers arriving at Stansted today also discussed the absurdity of using public transport despite the quarantine, with one saying: ‘It doesn’t look very common sense.’
Heather Edwards arrived at Heathrow from Switzerland this morning, before heading to Wales to celebrate her son’s 19th birthday.
The 56-year-old flew from Geneva Airport where she said restrictions were ‘extremely tight’ before taking her seat directly alongside other passengers boarding the Swissair flight
Upon landing, the mum-of-two passed ‘Temperature Check’ signs, but was not made to take one herself and nor did she see other passengers taking them.
She said: ‘I think the temperature checks were meant to be in operation, but I wasn’t asked to take one. I didn’t see anyone else take one either. I walked past signs for them.’
Heather then filtered through border control, where two officers manned the booths, handing them the immigration forms which asked nothing of passengers’ health.
She said: ‘We filled in UK Visa and Immigration forms. We filled in where we were coming from and going to, flight numbers, airlines, telephone number and personal information. There were no questions about our health.’
Upon arriving at Heathrow, Heather described what is usually one of the world’s busiest airports as ‘deserted’.
She added: ‘It’s very weird being at Heathrow. It was deserted. To me everybody, the staff and the passengers, are doing the best they can do under the circumstances. It’s not just the government’s responsibility, it’s the general public too. When I see people out and about on the beaches it’s ridiculous.’
The Dover ferry terminal in Kent is pictured today as the 14-day quarantine rules begin
A police van at the Dover passenger terminal in Kent this morning
Welsh-born Heather lives on the banks of Lac Leman, near Geneva in Switzerland, where there have been around 1,600 COVID-19 related deaths, far fewer than in neighbouring France, where almost 30,000 have perished from the virus.
She said: ‘I’m coming from Switzerland where there were very few deaths. Everybody was on lockdown, nobody left their homes.’
Heather was heading to Welshpool, Powys, where there had been 85 COVID-19 deaths recorded by the Office of National Statistics as of June 2.
She vowed to stick to the 14-day enforced lockdown period, but was unsure how authorities planned to enforce the quarantine.
The Home Office documents said the pledge to fine almost all travellers arriving in the UK £100 if they fail to fill in an online form or £1,000 if they refuse to self-isolate for two weeks will be difficult because there is no method for officials to ensure details are ‘genuine’.
Even a spokesman for the Home Office, whose boss Priti Patel has brought in the scheme, admitted to the Daily Telegraph last night that it was ‘very hard to imagine’ how some of the measures would work ‘in practice’.
Home Secretary Priti Patel insisted the Government’s proposal to quarantine overseas visitors is ‘not my plan’.
Labour’s shadow Home Office minister Conor McGinn asked: ‘The scientists say the quarantine introduced today (Monday) has come too late. The police says it’s unenforceable. The tourism and aviation industry say it will ruin them and the Home Secretary’s own department has said it is very hard to imagine how it will practically work.
‘In contrast, our proposal for a 48-hour testing-led model would be targeted, efficient and keep the country open for business.
Commuters wear face masks as they use the London Underground this morning
Commuters collect free face masks as they use the London Underground this morning
‘Can the Home Secretary explain to the House how her plan is better and why the Government think it’s right and everybody else is wrong?’
Ms Patel responded: ‘First of all, this is not my plan. This is a Government plan and Government policy, and I think in terms of the approach that has been taken, the Government has maintained throughout this pandemic that medical and scientific advice in terms of border measures are consistent and are now being applied.’
Lucy Moreton, professional officer at the Immigration Services Union, said Border Force staff checking quarantine papers were ‘angry’ at the way they were being treated.
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that technical papers explaining to staff what to check for only arrived on Friday, and were still not available to those operating on the front line of the devolved administrations.
Ms Moreton added: ‘This does appear to be very shambolic and they don’t want to be blamed for that.’
The new quarantine rules enforcing UK arrivals to stay home for 14 days were already in chaos today as Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said fliers will simply ignore them.
He also pointed out that arriving passengers would be getting straight onto public transport to reach their destination even if they did go into quarantine, and therefore defeating the point because they would come into contact with many other people.
Mr O’Leary told BBC Radio’s 4 Today programme: ‘What it is going to do is untold devastation, not just to the airlines but to British tourism.
‘The thousands of hotels, the thousands of visitor attractions, restaurants in the next couple of months – July and August are the two key months for British tourism in the tourism industry.
‘We’re facing thousands of jobs losses because of a stupid, ineffective quarantine.’
He said Ryanair bookings were down about 50 per cent on the same time last year but that outbound flights remained popular compared with inbound journeys, with European travellers being put off coming to the UK due to the restrictions to self-isolate for 14 days upon arrival.
Passengers arriving at Stansted Airport on a flight from Eindhoven in the Netherlands shared their views on new quarantine measures this morning.
Ali Gurlek, 30, a software developer from London who spent the weekend visiting friends in the Netherlands, criticised the measures as lacking in ‘common sense’.
‘Now we’re going to use public transport,’ he said. ‘If we have it then it’s going to spread that. It doesn’t look very common sense.’
Shopkeeper Netti Rexhmet, 32, who runs an off-licence in Chigwell in London, said the rule will prevent him from working for a fortnight.
Speaking as he walked through arrivals today, he said: ‘We haven’t got any other options, it’s Government law so I shall do it.
‘For me, I wouldn’t want to do it. I’d like to be open. I’ve got things to do, you have to live now, you have to pay.’
Kamil Farah, 24, from East Ham, London, said: ‘I don’t want to do it but I have to for the better good. There’s a lot of people dying and a lot of things happened this year.’
Thousands of Britons were queuing for hours at the Port of Calais last night in a mad rush to arrive in the UK before the measures began. This morning ferry companies warned that it was ‘very busy’ in both Calais and Dunkirk.
But at Dover this morning, the Port saw small numbers of passengers arrive in the UK as the new quarantine rules were introduced.
The passenger terminal was eerily empty apart from two receptionists while the road leading drivers through the Kent town was also very quiet.
Two men wearing surgical face masks came through in a Romanian car while another man entered the country in a Bulgarian Peugeot at around 10am.
People come into the arrivals lounge in Terminal 2 at Heathrow Airport in London, as new quarantine measures for international arrivals come into force today
A blue Volkswagen Polo with a UK number plate was one of just three passenger vehicles to depart from a ferry which boarded shortly before 11am.
One passenger in a black Audi A4 described the new quarantine system as a ‘joke’ as he was unable to return home to Doncaster before they were introduced.
The man who had crossed the Channel to see his family and did not want to be identified said: ‘I tried to buy my ticket back to the UK online but I couldn’t get it in time.
‘I think everyone must have been rushing back to get home before the quarantine. I had to stay in a Belgian hotel until the first ticket I could find which was today.
‘Then they told me over the phone that I will need to go into quarantine and I can’t do anything for two weeks. I can’t even go to the shop.
Even a spokesman for the Home Office, whose boss Priti Patel has brought in the scheme, admitted to the Daily Telegraph last night that it was ‘very hard to imagine’ how some of the measures would work ‘in practice’ (pictured: Heathrow Airport today)
Brits rushing to get home before quarantine measures come into effect are facing long queues at Calais tonight
P&O tweeted earlier on Sunday to say it had ‘could not predict the demand’ at the French port
‘They’ve just checked a few details of where I’m going to be staying before getting on the ferry and that was it. It’s a complete joke really. They clearly have not thought this through.’
The quarantine regulations must be reviewed every three weeks, with the first taking place by June 29.
They could be in place for a year, when the legislation expires, but the Government is expected to scrap it sooner with 500 travel and hospitality businesses set to apply for a judicial review or injunction at the High Court to suspend the policy.
There are also 47 exemptions so far and ‘air bridges’ with other countries are planned to help more people avoid the measures.
Tens of thousands of people currently arrive in the UK each day from abroad but there are reportedly only 230 tablet computers across all ports and airports for people to fill in their arrival form if they haven’t in advance. The document leaked to the Telegraph warned of huge queues if even one tablet computer is taken out of operation for cleaning for just a few minutes.
And it appears that Border Force checks will be light at Dover but Heathrow passengers face long delays because managers plan to check all arriving passengers.
Transport chiefs lined up last night to attack the Government’s ‘poorly thought-out’ and economically ‘devastating’ travel quarantine which comes into force today.
Heathrow boss John Holland-Kaye warned the scheme would hasten the loss of up to 25,000 jobs and hinder Britain’s ability ‘to fight for our place in the world’.
Channel Tunnel boss Jacques Gounon said the policy had been fraught with problems due to its late introduction last week and accused Ministers of ‘intransigence’.
Meanwhile, furious airline chiefs wrote to Home Secretary Priti Patel demanding that plans for ‘air bridges’ with other countries be drawn up within days.
Quarantine measures are now in place meaning anyone arriving in Britain will need to self-isolate for 14 days.
One Brit, who was returning from Spain on business said: ‘P&O have oversold their tickets and are only taking 200 people on at a time. There are thousands of people sitting in their cars.
‘We got here for 4.30pm, in time for our ferry at 7.30pm, we’ve barely moved since and haven’t even got past border control.
‘I don’t think we’ll be sailing tonight. If we don’t get back by 12am then we will have to go into quarantine, that’s why we tried getting back before then, but we’re one of thousands of Brits sitting in this queue.’
One traveller described the service as a ‘joke’ after being told he would have to travel on a 10pm crossing, after booking his ferry for 2.45pm.
Daniel Bevan gave up on queuing earlier today and is staying in a nearby hotel for the night.
He said: ‘We booked a return with P&O four days ago having made a trip to see my partner’s elderly parents.
‘We arrived for our Sunday night crossing to discover queue stretching back from the ferry to the other side of passport control. Most in the queue were booked on the previous ferry.’
Yesterday P&O ferries apologised to a customer who waited five hours to board his ferry home from Calais.
Nick Phillips wrote on Sunday: ‘Absolutely appalling customer service at Calais today. People who have pre-booked ferries being bumped so that cash bookings on the day can be made. No apology at check in desk, despite 1 hour wait to check in and further 4 hours for ferry.’
The ferry service replied: ‘We are very sorry for the extremely long waiting time in Calais today. ships are operating with reduced capacity to ensure all social distancing measures are adhered to. We have seen large, unpredicted numbers in Calais following government announcements.’
The operator later commented: ‘We sincerely regret that we could not predict the demand from Calais today and that you have had to wait so long for the next available sailing.’
Travellers arriving in the UK will now be required to self-isolate for 14 days under Government measures to guard against a second wave of coronavirus.
All passengers – bar a handful of exemptions – will have to fill out an online locator form giving their contact and travel details, as well as the address of where they will isolate.
People who fail to comply could be fined £1,000 in England, and police will be allowed to use ‘reasonable force’ to make sure they follow the rules.
Border Force officers will carry out checks on arrivals and may refuse entry to a non-resident foreign national who refuses to comply with the regulations.
Failure to complete the locator form will be punishable by a £100 fixed penalty notice.
The plans have been met with strong criticism from opposition parties and some Conservative MPs – as well as the travel industry.
British Airways has begun legal proceedings over what it calls the Government’s ‘unlawful’ quarantine measures.
The Telegraph said a Home Office spokesman admitted it was ‘very hard to imagine’ how some of the planned measures would work in practice.
A leaked Home Office document seen by the paper reportedly said there was no method for officials to ensure a person’s details are ‘genuine’.
Travellers arriving from within the Common Travel Area – which includes Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands – will not need to self-isolate unless they have arrived in the CTA in the last 14 days.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: ‘We all want to return to normal as quickly as possible. But this cannot be at the expense of lives.
‘The science is clear that if we limit the risk of new cases being brought in from abroad, we can help stop a devastating second wave.
‘That is why the measures coming into force today are necessary. They will help control the virus, protect the NHS and save lives.’
A P&O Ferries spokesman said: ‘We would like to apologise sincerely to any customers who were inconvenienced by the delays at Calais over the weekend.
‘The situation was caused by high levels of demand coinciding with the introduction of Government’s quarantine policy and reduced capacity, with only three ships in operation compared with five prior to the crisis and volumes significantly restricted due to coronavirus safety measures including social distancing.
‘We stopped selling tickets as soon as it became clear that there were more people attempting to travel than we had room for. We eased the backlog by running an additional sailing and the situation at the port is now back to normal.’