The oblivious Swiss passenger claimed he had not been told about the new quarantining rules or filled out any paperwork specifying where he planned to isolate
A sick passenger claimed he was completely unaware of the UK’s new 14-day quarantining regulations after landing at Heathrow Aiport – and planned to take the Tube to central London.
Footage shows the man nervously laughing when he’s told about the new rules for fliers arriving in the country from abroad after landing at the airport from Switzerland on Monday.
He goes on to explain he is also feeling unwell and needs to seek medical attention but believes it is in relation to a tooth or ear infection, claiming he has likely already had coronavirus.
Speaking to ITV reporter Martin Stew, he was told he faces a £1,000 fine if he can’t supply an address where he will isolate for two weeks.
Nobody told you that you have to stay in one place for two weeks?”, the journalist asked the oblivious passenger, who replied: “No.”
Mr Stew went on to ask: “And you could have a fine of maybe £1,000 if you don’t stay in one place. It’s quite bad isn’t it? If nobody has told you it’s a problem.”
The man said: “Yeah. I still have other issues right now so I wanted to go to the hospital.”
Taking to Twitter later on, Mr Stew wrote: “Passenger arriving at Heathrow from Switzerland just told me he had no idea he was supposed to be quarantining.
To make matters worse he said he was feeling unwell and was going to take the tube. He didn’t think he had COVID-19 as believes he’s had it before.”
He added: “He said symptoms appeared to be from an ear/tooth infection but wasn’t too sure (and there was a bit of a language barrier). “
The new travel rules hope 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.
But some passengers arriving at London Heathrow on Monday slammed the new rules, claiming that they are unenforceable.
The Daily Mail reports, on landing, passengers said no specific checks were carried out to verify the information they had supplied on the forms.
There was also confusion over the use of electronic ‘e gates’, with only Terminal Five electronic passport checks in operation.
Jane Mason, who flew in via British Airways from Washington, told the Mail: “I could have been lying the whole time and to be honest, nobody is real.
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.”
Tory MPs, meanwhile, have staged a mutiny, warning the rules will crush the airline industry and cripple the economy.
And there are claims it’s a pointless policy, because the UK is still getting more cases each day than many other countries, especially in Europe.
Chief scientific advisor Sir Patrick Vallance hinted the plan broke SAGE advice – saying quarantine works best “when the number of cases in this country is very low, and when [it’s] applied to countries with higher rates.”
The regulations expire 12 months from the date they come into force, June 8, unless they are scrapped by the Government before then.
Boris Johnson said he will “explore the possibility” of replacing quarantine with individual “air bridges”, allowing travel between England and one other country without the need to quarantine.
But he warned it will only happen “when the evidence shows it is safe to do so”.
