You will need a negative covid test to enter England from next week – even for UK residents

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• Stuart says:

  8 Jan8 January 09:11

  I totally agree with the policy, but implementation may need toughening up. Take Spain, for example. Nobody actually checked my test certificate upon arrival (in FUE)… and the test certificates being issued, even by labs approved by the Spanish Government, could be knocked up in 30 seconds in Word and converted to PDF.

  Without some centralised database of confirmed test results and passport numbers from approved labs, I can see a lot of gaming of this system.

  Unless of course, the Border Force actually collects copies of the certificates (unclear if they will), and then follows up later the organistion who did the test to confirm it was done, with fines issued as appropriate for tests that can’t be verified.

  • Rob says:

    8 Jan8 January 09:15

    Border Force will make ‘spot checks’, ie 1 in 100 will be asked probably. The onus is on the airlines. This is the same approach that Dubai was using. I have never heard of anyone being asked to produce their test result at the border but SWISS asked for it twice.

    • Nick says:

      8 Jan8 January 09:24

      The PLF checking requirement is 30 in 100. I imagine this will be similar (easy enough to check both at the same time).

      • TGLoyalty says:

        8 Jan8 January 10:02

        Is that met by completely disregarding anyone using egates and just checking those that see an officer?

        • Nick says:

          8 Jan8 January 11:37

          Possibly. I don’t think it’s a particularly specific target, just a crude total to meet. But they are strictly monitored on it and it’s 30% of all passengers not just 30% of manual entries… which in practice means turning off the e-gates occasionally and pushing everyone through manual queues. Only happens at quietish times though.

  • Phillip says:

    8 Jan8 January 14:52

    They could make it mandatory to upload the test certificate with the PLF – a number of other countries have done this. Whether they are verified is another story.

    Also, I overheard a border officer tell someone recently that the reason they were unable to use the epassport gates on arrival at Heathrow was because they hadn’t done their PLF which is then linked to the passport. How factual this is, I don’t know!

• Andrew says:

  8 Jan8 January 09:14

  Scotland have confirmed it will apply to arrivals there and Wales have said that once Cardiff airport resumes international travel it will apply there too.

• Bill says:

  8 Jan8 January 09:14

  They probably waited until after Brexit so that their own diplomats travelling between Brussels and London didn’t have this requirement

  • Rhys says:

    8 Jan8 January 09:24

    Given that the quarantine requirement had so many exemptions I can’t imagine this is any different 🙂

  • kitten says:

    8 Jan8 January 09:28

    I am sure they will exempt MP’s, as they are never infected with anything. Also rich businessmen, civil servants, party hacks, and Dominic Cummings.

    • Charlieface says:

      8 Jan8 January 09:38

      Isn’t that a case of permanent infection? With insanity that is. 🙂

      • Nick says:

        8 Jan8 January 11:38

        Civil servants are not and will not be exempt, apart from those (from any country) with diplomatic protection.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          8 Jan8 January 12:04

          Draft legislation has been published?

        • kitten says:

          9 Jan9 January 04:48

          so diplomats are not infectious?

          I still want to know about MP’s

• Track says:

  8 Jan8 January 09:24

  That’s nailing it.

• Peter says:

  8 Jan8 January 09:28

  Anyone else wondering why PCR tests are so expensive in the UK? In Germany, you can get a PCR test for £50 at Hamburg Airport – less than half the price of what it costs in London (£120 at Boots for example). Some illegal price fixing going on maybe?

  • Pete M says:

    8 Jan8 January 09:30

    Certainly feels like a licence to print money here…!

    • Rob says:

      8 Jan8 January 10:58

      It is. The clinic where we had ours done was easily taking £100,000 per day.

      • Chris Heyes says:

        8 Jan8 January 12:17

        Rob lol forever the Banker lol working out what a business takes lol
        bet you know per year as well lol

        • Rob says:

          8 Jan8 January 12:22

          Fundamentally you shouldn’t bother applying for a job in an investment bank unless every time you walk into a shop, restaurant, theatre etc you mentally start to work out how much money it takes and whether it is profitable. If you don’t have that mind set then the City isn’t for you.

          A marketing person told me that they do it too, but from an advertising / design / promotional perspective.

        • Chris Heyes says:

          8 Jan8 January 12:44

          I agree Rob the city isn’t for me lol not even to visit.
          To be honest the “only” city that I’ve liked and been back to more than twice is Athens.
          Tell i slight lie did London Marathon twice 1980s
          Did Tutankhamun exhibition when it first came 70s or 60s can’t remember
          Plus London Eye meal and River Boat Cruise, partners 60th
          Miles to crowded these days
          But each to his or her own (my garden in Blackburn would fit 5/6 London houses in just the back garden)

  • Anna says:

    8 Jan8 January 09:38

    I think the simple answer is that a private company can charge anything it wants for a service! I am currently watching Rip Off Britain, ironically.

  • TGLoyalty says:

    8 Jan8 January 09:40

    As competition increases the price should fall

    It’s available for £80 at Heathrow (well drive thru near Heathrow) for those with a Heathrow booking number for example.

    I hope it continues to fall.

    • Ross says:

      8 Jan8 January 10:43

      Brilliant knowledge, thanks.

      I just had a search and Gatwick, Stansted and Luton offer similar as well – good news. All cost £99.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        8 Jan8 January 11:42

        £79 for those needing test and release as LAMP tests are accepted.

  • Chrisasaurus says:

    8 Jan8 January 10:46

    Skk in my I guess because a combination of: people are willing to pay £120 in boots, someone else is willing to sell them for £50 in Hamburg and capacity constraints means boots couldn’t sell any more even if reducing the price?

  • HAM76 says:

    8 Jan8 January 21:26

    Are tests expensive in the UK or in London? Lots of things are more expensive in London than in Hamburg… Other factors include taxes, VAT exemptions for tests, legal reporting requirements, cost of staff and rent… It just might legitimately be more expensive to perform a test in London. That‘s before taking into account how much people are willing to spend for test.

• BS says:

  8 Jan8 January 09:31

  It is a great start. I just wish they were doing it properly… ‘spot checks’. Rather like the spot checks they are doing on the passenger locator forms that can be completely avoided by using the automatic gates.
  South Africa had port health on the steps of the plane, and you didn’t get off the plane unless you had a form. Everyone checked. This is what we should be doing.

  • babyg says:

    8 Jan8 January 13:14

    exactly they should do it properly or not at all…

• James Vickers says:

  8 Jan8 January 09:33

  What sort of countries do we think would be exempt? It’s questionable I would say that a lot of Caribbean nations would have many testing options..

  • Anna says:

    8 Jan8 January 09:41

    I think a lot of the Caribbean nations have actually got a very good testing system in place because it was vital to get their tourism industries up and running again. How the authorities are going to prove how easily you can get a test is a different matter!

  • TGLoyalty says:

    8 Jan8 January 09:43

    Hopefully it’s those with relatively low rates of infection perhaps not enough they can come off the corridor list but enough that it’s as low a risk as a test 3 days prior from any high risk destination.

    3 days is a long time to pick up the virus.

• Anna says:

  8 Jan8 January 10:09

  So from the look of this, anyone transiting through Dublin won’t need to have a test? I am not suggesting anyone does this, just that it seems quite a large loophole!

  • Nick says:

    8 Jan8 January 11:40

    Well it won’t be if the Irish authorities introduce a similar requirement… which is likely.

  • Doommonger says:

    8 Jan8 January 14:16

    Seems as if Ireland is one of the few routes left to build miles and status at the present time. I’m going to do it as I need to hit silver I might go to the IC Dublin to use my voucher as well

    • The real John says:

      8 Jan8 January 16:46

      Ireland has tougher restrictions than the UK though

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