More than 200 passengers have been threatened with government fines after landing at Heathrow without booking a quarantine hotel.
Border Force officials issued the travellers with ‘notices of intent’ for failing to follow Covid precautions between February 2021 and September, a response to a Freedom of Information Act request shows.
The cases, which carry the threat of a fixed penalty notice, were ‘referred for further investigation’, according to the disclosure.
The government refused to release further details of its enforcement activities, including the outcomes in each case, stating it would cost too much to retrieve the information from its systems.
The hotel quarantine system has been heavily criticised by some of those isolating in managed accommodation during the pandemic.
Red list passengers had to pre-book through packages that increased in price to cost £2,285 for an adult, but some landed in the UK without having made the arrangement.
In total, 210 people were served with the notices.
Gary Reeves, a regular flyer who has raised flaws in the system, told Metro.co.uk: ‘The government has tried to control the spread of new variants but the quarantine system was not thought through well enough.
‘My experience shows that the checks on travellers flying in from across the world were not as thorough as they were meant to be. I don’t think the system was very secure and it certainly wasn’t infallible.
‘It’s a double-edged sword. Do you blame the people who have arrived without booking expensive quarantine and testing packages or do you blame the government, who struggled to implement something on that scale in such a short timescale?’
The quarantine system has previously been criticised by several people who underwent the 10-day isolation period after arriving in the UK.
In October, one passenger returning from Trinidad described it as a ‘shambles’ as he returned to Heathrow on a flight that had also embarked passengers from a green list country.
Rob, who asked to be known by his first name, told Metro.co.uk that the ‘farcical’ system also meant he had mixed with thousands of people throughout the airport.
The quarantine measure effectively ended on Monday, November 1 with the removal of the remaining countries on the red list, although the restriction could be re-imposed in future.
The details were only disclosed after the Home Office first said it could not provide wider information about breaches of the system, before the request was narrowed and resubmitted.
In its response, Border Force said: ‘Where a passenger arriving from a Red List Country is required to have booked the Managed Quarantine Service, but has no booking, Border Force Officers have the authority to serve a Notice of Intent to issue a Fixed Penalty Notice. They will also ensure that the passenger complies with the booking and quarantine requirements.’
The Home Office insisted that the 210 travellers only represent a ‘tiny fraction’ of the overall number of red list passengers.
A spokesperson told Metro.co.uk: ‘We provided the Metro with information in response to their enquiry. We also made clear in our reply that the requester can refine their question or request an internal review if they wish.
‘We have a duty to ensure value for money for the taxpayer and FOI requests which are estimated to cost £600 or more to process can be declined under section 12 of the Act.
‘This FOI states that 210 travellers to Heathrow failed to book their Managed Quarantine Service over a more than seven month period which is a tiny fraction of the number of travellers entering the UK’s busiest airport.
‘This shows that the health measures at the border have worked.’
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