Man and woman from the Wirral are fined £10,000 each for failing to quarantine after they returned from Dubai
- The man and woman returned from Dubai to Merseyside but did not quarantine
- Police were then notified and they tracked down and fined them £10,000 each
- They were fined on Friday and then transported to a designated quarantine hotel
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A man and a woman have been issued with £10,000 fines for failing to quarantine after returning from Dubai, police said.
Merseyside Police said fixed penalty notices for failing to comply with travel regulations were issued to two people from the Wirral after they avoided a direct flight back from the country, which is currently on the foreign travel red list, to one of the specified ports of entry required for quarantine.
A force spokesman said they received a report last Tuesday that a man and woman had failed to quarantine after returning from Dubai.
Following an investigation, both were issued on with a £10,000 fine on Friday and transported to a designated quarantine hotel.
The man and woman returned from Dubai on an indirect flight before going back to the Wirral instead of hotel quarantine (stock photo)
A member of the NHS Test and Trace team arrives at the Holiday Inn hotel near Heathrow Airport which is being used as a quarantine hotel. Merseyside Police took the man and woman in the Wirral to a hotel after fining them
Chief Inspector Chris Barnes said: ‘Strict rules around international travel have been put in place by the Government for a reason, and to disregard them in this way is selfish, inconsiderate, and potentially dangerous.
‘Currently, the regulations mean that if you are a British or Irish national, or you have residence rights in the UK and are returning from a country on the foreign travel red list, you must quarantine in a Government-approved hotel for 10 days.
‘If you are required to quarantine at a hotel, you can only arrive in England at certain ports of entry.
‘In this instance, the pair in question avoided a direct flight route back from Dubai to one of the specified airports in an attempt to evade this process.
‘However, this was ultimately unsuccessful and has now resulted in a significant fine of £10,000 each.
‘I hope this incident sends out a clear message to anyone considering breaching travel regulations in this way that we will not tolerate it, and you will be dealt with robustly.
‘We are at a crucial point in the pandemic and it’s vital that everyone continues to abide by the restrictions so that we can meet the criteria needed for lockdown to ease.
‘By not doing so, you are not only jeopardising this process, but recklessly putting your health and the health of others at risk.’
Last week it was revealed that around 1,200 people are currently in a number of Government-approved quarantine hotels to prevent mutant variants of coronavirus from high-risk countries including Portugal from spreading around the UK.
MPs were told that more than 100 people a day are going into the hotels at London Heathrow Airport, where they must stay for 10 days at a cost of £1,750 for the accommodation on risk of criminal prosecution.
However, the Government has not yet released data on how many people have tested positive for coronavirus since going into a quarantine hotel, with ministers expected to publish an update in the coming weeks.
The rules say you cannot enter the UK if you’ve been in or through a country on the banned travel list in the last 10 days, unless you’re British, Irish or you have the right to live in the UK.
If you do enter, you must either quarantine where you’re staying or in a managed quarantine hotel for 10 days
Arrivals who lie about where they have been could be jailed for a maximum of 10 years, and if they leave before the end of quarantine they could be fined a maximum of £10,000