All UK travel corridors suspended as overseas arrivals face airport queues

Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in London
Some passengers said they ‘felt unsafe’ at the airport
REUTERS
Luke O'Reilly18 January 2021

The UK's quarantine-free travel corridors have closed - leaving arrivals facing long queues.

Some of the earliest arrivals into London’s Heathrow airport said they had been met with “substantial” lines at passport control.

One couple complained they had “felt unsafe” due to what they described as poor social distancing.

Arrivals must now take a negative coronavirus test up to 72 hours before departure, and self-isolate for up to 10 days.

The corridors were a lifeline for the travel industry when they were introduced in summer 2020, as struggling firms saw a spike in bookings for destinations added to the list.

But they were suspended from 4am on Monday as the Government attempts to prevent new strains of Covid-19 from entering the UK.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Sunday that checks at the border would be strengthened as the new measures came into place.

But Andy Hart from London, who arrived into Terminal 5 with his partner on Monday morning from Nairobi, said he was “shocked and disappointed” to see the queues at passport control.

Coronavirus - Mon Jan 18, 2021
Passengers faced long queues
PA

The Coffy app chief executive said: “We felt unsafe. We felt that even though everyone was masked they were far too close together.

“It took an hour and 10 minutes.

“I’ve been flying 30 times a year for 20 years. I mean, once or twice have I ever seen it (airport queues) like this.

“How can this happen during Covid times?”

Coronavirus - Mon Jan 18, 2021
Checks at the border will be strengthened
PA

His partner, who did not wish to be named, said there should have been better staffing.

She said: “They knew today was going to be the switchover, so from 4am new rules came into effect.

“How come they didn’t have extra staff on standby?”

Bella Danquah, from London, said the rules on the 10-day isolation period could be made clearer for new arrivals.

The 34-year-old consultant who flew in from Accra in Ghana, said: “They just need to be clearer when people come in because not everybody is going to look at the (Government) website.

“I went on the website because BA (British Airways) told me to.”

She said officials should also tell passengers “when they were going through passport control”.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in