Britons flooded back from France in a bid to beat the quarantine deadline
Unfortunate Brits who just missed the 4am France quarantine deadline arrive home including a mother whose train was delayed and must now isolate with her disabled son – after 160,000 raced through the night on midnight ferries and even FISHING BOATS
- From 4am onwards, all those arriving from France must quarantine for 14 days after spike in coronavirus cases
- The 11th-hour move sparked chaos for an estimated 500,000 Britons who were holidaying in France
- There are also fears that the new rules will cause thousands of children to miss the start of the school year
- Pupils who don’t return to UK by Tuesday night will be self-isolating at home when majority of schools go back
Published: 02:52 EDT, 15 August 2020 | Updated: 15:08 EDT, 15 August 2020
A mother who missed the last Eurostar train from Paris to London last night must now quarantine for 14 days with her disabled son after the government’s mandatory quarantine kicked in at 4am.
Alexis Walmsley, from Basingstoke, missed her last chance to return to the UK with her son after her train from Avignon to Paris was delayed in Lyon.
She said her son ‘won’t understand quarantine’ and the family ‘don’t even know where we will sleep tonight’.
The 11th-hour move to include France on the quarantine list sparked chaos for an estimated 500,000 British holidaymakers in France – some 160,000 of whom made a desperate bid to get home.
Eurotunnel Le Shuttle, the train service which carries vehicles through the Channel Tunnel, said it carried nearly 30% more vehicles from France to the UK on Friday than forecast as travellers rushed to get home and beat quarantine.
Some 22 extra departures were laid on, carrying more than 30,000 passengers in 11,600 vehicles, it said.
Alexis Walmsley (pictured) from Basingstoke missed the last Eurostar train meaning both she and her disabled son now have to quarantine for 14 days
The 11th-hour move sparked chaos for an estimated 500,000 Britons in France with some forced to charter a fishing boat (pictured)
The Dunedin Consort – a musical ensemble from Scotland – wrote on Twitter: ‘Au revoir France! As exits from concerts go, this one is quite unique. We’re sailing back to the UK on a fishing boat overnight to beat the quarantine’
Eurostar passengers arrive at St Pancras Station in London from Paris on the first train after a quarantine was put in effect for people returning from France
Ms Walmsley wrote on Twitter: ‘So near and yet so far. Reorganised my return from France to ensure my disabled son didn’t have to quarantine but our TGV was so delayed we are going to miss the last Eurostar home.’
She added: ‘Made new booking for me and my disabled son (who won’t understand quarantine) from Avignon to Paris for the Eurostar.
‘We’d have made it home but for a massive delay at Lyon. Now I don’t even know where we will sleep tonight.’
Three friends returning to London this evening said they will have to quarantine despite testing negative for the virus in the last week.
School worker Lou Le Mener, 23, student Aurelia Crea and IT worker Marine Coupe, 25, all French nationals living together in London, arrived back at St Pancras on Saturday evening after visiting family.
Ms Crea said: ‘We wanted to come back yesterday but it was about 300 euros a ticket and the website was crashing. Then you have a lot of people in the same place, crowded trying to come back. The Eurostar today was very quiet.
‘I feel it’s unfair for us to have to quarantine but we will do it. In Paris we have to wear masks almost everywhere, we already felt trapped there and now we are trapped again.’
Ms Coupe added: ‘It doesn’t really make sense. The UK was the last to quarantine and now they’re bringing in these hardcore measures.
‘And in France too, everyone is wearing a mask, but here, no.’
The group said they had all had negative coronavirus tests in the past week.
One mother was forced to leave two of her children behind with her husband when she fled France on the last Eurostar train.
The woman – who had to return to the UK before quarantine began due to her job – was only able to get tickets for herself and her baby.
She now fears her two daughters – who will return on Monday – may not be out of quarantine when their school goes back.
The woman, who did not provide her name, told Sky News: ‘This has completely ruined our summer. I don’t know what I’m going to do now. I am so upset about this.’
Others were forced to charter a fishing boat to make it home on time. The Dunedin Consort – a musical ensemble from Scotland – wrote on Twitter: ‘Au revoir France! As exits from concerts go, this one is quite unique. We’re sailing back to the UK on a fishing boat overnight to beat the quarantine.’
Daniel Sutton also took to social media to share his thoughts. He wrote: ‘Try and make this make sense: I arrive back from France tonight at 11pm so miss the quarantine rule by 5 hours. Iona then arrives back on Monday and so legally she has to quarantine. Although we live together (Iona has nowhere else she can go) I do not have to quarantine.
‘When she arrives back meaning I have to go to work and can legally go out to pubs, shops, etc all the while living with someone who is quarantining. (I obviously won’t go out though except for work.)’
Angela Langridge from Brighton also returned after the deadline and said she was worried about her ‘sanity’ being cooped up inside. She told The Guardian: ‘I should be starting work on Monday but we had already missed our holiday to Spain so we thought we’d give France a go.’
She added: ‘We don’t have a garden … but we have Wii Fit [a video console] and friends and family offering to do food deliveries.’
One family made it back to Britain with just hours to spare. Matt, a teacher from Manchester who did not share his second name, took his car on a Channel Tunnel train which was due to arrive back in the UK at 3.55am.
Travellers from France arrive at the Eurostar terminal at St Pancras International after France was removed from the list of safe countries people can travel to without going into quarantine
Eurostar passengers were seen in St Pancras Station in London after they arriving from Paris. They will now need to quarantine
A coronavirus infection map of France has revealed that only Paris and Marseilles have major outbreaks while most of the country is barely affected at all. The percentage number shows the proportion of coronavirus tests coming back positive
Travellers arrive back in the UK from France at St. Pancras station in London after the quarantine came into force at 4am
Travellers arrive back in the UK from Paris. All passengers wear their protective coronavirus face mask while they travel
His family had been camping in the Dordogne and had planned to come home on Monday but changed their tickets for an extra £115.
The family drove for 10 hours to Calais to catch the train and spent another £66 to stay at a hotel in the early hours before driving on to Manchester.
‘We literally got on the last available train. We’d been keeping up-to-date with the chaos at Calais so we were fearing the worst,’ the 40-year-old said.
‘Luckily, once we got to Calais we sailed through and actually got back at just gone 3am.’
There are also fears that the new rules will cause thousands of children to miss the start of the school year as pupils who do not return to the UK by Tuesday night will still be self-isolating at home when the majority of schools go back on September 2.
But with limited capacity on flights, ferries and the Eurotunnel, many will have no choice but to stay in France – or pay high prices for some of the remaining tickets.
Some tourists had less time to avoid quarantine after the Scottish and Welsh governments demanded the rules be introduced a day earlier.
Meanwhile, France is likely to impose to impose tit-for-tat quarantine restrictions from Monday for people arriving from Britain, meaning British travellers will have to self-isolate on arrival there too.
Families made a last-minute dash across the Channel last night ahead of the 4am cut-off this morning when France was added to the UK’s quarantine list. Pictured: A family arriving from Dieppe last night
Passengers disembarked from the penultimate ferry to Newhaven from Dieppe last night before the 14-day quarantine rules kicked in
People queue in line to check-in for a British Airways flight to Heathrow Airport on Friday at Nice airport, southern France
One family was seen cycling after getting off the penultimate ferry to Newhaven from Dieppe last night – before the quarantine rules kicked in
Meanwhile, France is likely to impose to impose tit-for-tat quarantine restrictions from Monday for people arriving from Britain, meaning British travellers will have to self-isolate on arrival there too. Pictured: A queue of cars fleeing France via the Channel Tunnel
Holidaymakers Stuart and Anna Buntine spent nearly £1,000 on the Eurostar get home from France on Friday.
Mr Buntine, 58, said outside St Pancras: ‘We didn’t get our notification until this morning, where we were staying in Burgundy there wasn’t a lot of internet.
‘I went to bed last night thinking it was all OK, woke up at 7am to find we had to get back here pretty sharpish.
Holiday prices plummet as experts fear last-minute introduction of quarantine could be putting Britons off international travel
The cost of holidays to Turkey and Greece has plummeted by 30 per cent as Britons shun international travel – with experts fearing the last-minute introduction of quarantine in various countries could be to blame.
Holidays to quarantine-free Greece and Turkey have dropped in price by around 28 per cent on average, The Times reports.
Comparison website Travel Supermarket also found the cost of a week-long trip to Italy has dropped by over half.
A source said: ‘Operators are clearly starting to ‘price dump’ seats’.
‘Given the situation we are in, any revenue is good revenue.’
‘We couldn’t get tickets, all the sites had crashed. We had to buy business class tickets back today so it’s cost nearly £1,000. It is what it is.
‘It’s a bit of a b****r but we can’t do much about it can we?’
Mrs Buntine added: ‘We left here with our eyes knowing that it was a possibility, so we decided we’d take that risk.’
The couple, who have a farm in the Midlands and run a sports events company, said they were originally due back on Monday but needed to return sooner due to a work event within the quarantine window.
- Children required to quarantine on return from holiday must be back in the UK by Tuesday, or they will be unable to return to school on September 2
- Up to 500,000 Britons have had their holidays ruined, while official estimates suggest some 160,000 Britons are trying to leave France before Saturday
- Meanwhile, French officials have suggested the country will impose quarantine restrictions of people arriving from Britons ‘within days’, sources suggest
- ‘Reciprocal arrangements are common in these situations and these are likely within days,’ said the French government source
- It comes after the UK insisted that anybody arriving from France from 4am on Saturday will have to spend two weeks self-isolating
- Last night, Grant Shapps sparked chaos by incorrectly saying that it would apply to people who ‘come back from Sunday’, as opposed to Saturday
- The Department of Transport was forced to quickly clarify the correct day
The Office for National Statistics says 20 per cent of adults have abandoned plans for trips abroad. Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said an estimated 160,000 tried to return from France yesterday.
Shapps sparked chaos last night when he announced the dramatic step to add France to the quarantine list, but suggested it would only apply to people who ‘come back from Sunday’.
The Department for Transport then clarified the restrictions would come into force tomorrow instead amid accusations that Nicola Sturgeon demanded quarantine was imposed on France tomorrow to ‘flex her muscles’.
In more bad news for British holidaymakers, Greece could soon be added to the quarantine list, after a spike in its infection rate, with a record 235 cases recorded on August 12. Daily new cases in the country were in the 30s towards the end of July.
Families returning to the UK from France or another blacklisted country after 4am today risk a £1,000 fine and a criminal record if they send their children to school when they are meant to be in a 14-day self-isolation.
Parents will not be fined by head teachers or have their children marked as officially absent if they are observing the quarantine.
People queue in line to check-in for the cross channel ferry in Calais on Friday as around 160,000 Brits scramble to get back from France before quarantine restrictions come into force at 4am of Saturday
But Home Office rules say returning travellers should not go to work or school – and officials have vowed rigorous enforcement.
It means teachers will be banned from going back to the classroom if they are still self-isolating when term begins.
The National Education Union recently demanded that teachers who are in quarantine should receive full holiday pay if they cannot work from home. Schools have been asked to make sure remote learning facilities are in place to help pupils who have to self-isolate in the first week of term.
It comes after Boris Johnson vowed to make the reopening of schools a ‘national priority’ following months of disruption.
Yesterday former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith criticised the Government’s handling of the French quarantine fiasco. He said: ‘I would have preferred it if this had been done in a more nuanced way.
‘Rather than slapping the quarantine across the whole country, it would have been better to do it in a phased way, with the most badly hit regions first. I am concerned many teachers will be affected by this decision at a time when they are needed back in schools.’
Channel swimmer and five campers who HAVEN’T been put off
Day-tripper with a difference…
The quarantine rules have left swimmer Chloe McCardel holding her breath – as the rising tide of Covid cases on the continent may force her into self-isolation.
The 35-year-old plans to swim to France tomorrow, but must reach land for her 21-mile journey to count as an official cross-Channel trip. She plans to stay ‘in’ the country for less than ten minutes before she returns to Britain, but is still not sure if she must quarantine afterwards.
Swimmer Chloe McCardel who is looking to break the men’s record for the number of English Channel crossings on Sunday
The 35-year-old Australian said she will spend less than 10 minutes on French soil, and is hoping she will not have to quarantine when she returns to Dover
Miss McCardel, from Australia, holds multiple world records, including the longest ever unassisted ocean swim – 41.5 hours in the Bahamas, covering more than 77 miles.
She received special dispensation from the Australian government to travel to the UK amid the pandemic, and has already swum the Channel 34 times, including three crossings this month alone. The record, held by British swimmer Alison Streeter, is 43.
Miss McCardel is due to set off at around 10am and expects to reach France some ten hours later. ‘I stand up on land for a couple of minutes, then it’s back in the water, swim to the support boat, and head back to England,’ she said.
‘We don’t go anywhere near the border officials or passport control, so I’m hoping technically the quarantine thing won’t apply.’
Miss McCardel said she wants her crossing to raise awareness of domestic abuse during lockdown, having escaped from an abusive relationship herself.
We’re still going – despite son’s pleas
Jamie and Bernie Harrison are going ahead with their camping holiday despite the new quarantine announcement.
The couple left for Nice yesterday with their children JJ, nine, Luke, six, and Nelly, three. The family face two weeks of quarantine once they return from the south of France.
The Harrisons had originally planned to go to Spain – but switched destinations after their initial choice was subjected to the same quarantine restrictions now imposed on France.
Jamie Harrison and wife Bernie, both 43, were taking their three children JJ, nine, Luke, six, and Nelly, three, on a 10-day camping holiday to Nice, France
Mr Harrison, 43, said: ‘We’re still going to enjoy ourselves and have a great trip. There’s never going to be a good time to introduce quarantine and if it’s got to be done then so be it. But I don’t understand why they’ve picked Saturday to implement it.’
Mrs Harrison, also 43, admitted: ‘We kind of thought it was going to come after what happened with Spain. I was mentally prepared. And we made sure we had two weeks before the kids go back to school.’
JJ said he disagreed with his parents’ decision to leave the family home in south-east London. ‘I think quarantine is bad and that’s why I wanted to stay,’ he said.
‘It means I can’t play with my friends for two weeks.’
Passengers arrive at Gatwick airport today from France (pictured from left to right: Joanne Edmondson, Lily Edmondson, Amelie Duncan, Madeleine Edmondson, David Edmondson)
Passengers arrive at St Pancras International Station from Paris. Last night it was announced that people would have to self isolate after spending time in France, to help stop the spread of Covid 19 (pictured: Estelle Blanc, left, Dylan Jones, right)
I am returning from a quarantine country. What do I need to do?
First, fill in a ‘locator form’ online. This includes your travel history, contact details and the UK address where you will be self-isolating for 14 days. Border Force agents will check you have completed this form before you are allowed through passport control.
Are there exceptions?
YES. Those who do not need to self-isolate after arriving in Britain include airline, ferry and rail staff on cross-Channel services, as well as workers who commute between the UK and a quarantine country more than once a week. Hauliers are exempt, as are seasonal farm workers and anyone with ‘specialist technical skills’ needed for emergency work. Exemptions can also be granted on health grounds.
What if I am driving back via France?
There is no need to self-isolate or even fill out a form – as long as you do not physically set foot in the country, or have anyone join you during the journey.
Does quarantine really mean 14 days indoors?
YES. You can’t nip out to exercise or shop, and are not allowed visitors unless they are providing emergency help or medical care. Food should be ordered online or delivered by friends or family.
Does anyone else in my house have to self-isolate if they didn’t travel?
No. Only those who travelled to a quarantine country have to self-isolate for 14 days. The rest of the household can carry on as normal – although they should try to minimise contact with anyone who is self-isolating.
What happens to those who break the rules?
EVEN failing to fill out a locator form is a criminal offence, which could result in a £100 fine. Those caught breaching quarantine face a £1,000 penalty in England, or even prosecution – which can result in an unlimited fine.
How will this be enforced?
Public health officials will carry out random checks by telephone. If these raise doubts, police will visit the address in question.
Can I claim statutory sick pay if I’m in quarantine?
NoT unless you’re sick. The Government has asked firms to go easy on staff wo get caught out – and says workers can claim Universal Credit if their boss won’t pay them while they self-isolate.
I have a holiday booked to a quarantine country. Should I go anyway?
It’s up to you. The Foreign Office now warns against ‘all but essential’ travel to countries on the list. Most insurance policies will not cover medical expenses in this scenario. In addition, countries are likely to respond with their own measures for arrivals from Britain.
Will I get my money back if I cancel my trip?
IT depends. If your hotel or villa is still open there is no legal right to a refund – but some websites such as Airbnb allow for last-minute cancellations. When it comes to travel, you also have no right to a refund if your airline’s route is still running – although you should get a voucher or free rebooking. These are also being offered to ferry customers due to travel in August. Eurostar says passengers with a booking up to September 7 can get a voucher valid for 12 months.
Covid-19 cases in France rose by 2,846 yesterday, taking the seven-day average above 2,000 for the first time since April 20.
But critics have questioned the need for a blanket quarantine when there are huge differences in infection rates between regions.
The area including Paris has been hard hit, with more than 73,000 cases, but this is five times that of the region covering Provence and the Cote d’Azur.
Britain has also added restrictions to travellers from Monaco, Malta, Holland, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and Aruba.
The Government now advises against all but essential travel to France and the other countries. It means travellers there are unlikely to be covered by travel insurance.
The move has ruined the holiday plans of an estimated 500,000 Britons in France, and travel bosses have warned of days of chaos.
Eurotunnel tickets for crossings this weekend and into next week were selling out fast last night, along with Eurostar trains out of Paris. Flights with British Airways, Ryanair and EasyJet sold out within minutes of the announcement on Thursday night.
The cost of tickets for the few remaining seats on flights from Nice and Paris jumped ten-fold to £800 yesterday morning. Tickets for the Channel Tunnel sold out in hours as 12,000 people tried to move their bookings forward.
Eurostar and Brittany Ferries said most services were fully booked. Tickets on Eurostar were up by 30 per cent, meaning it would cost a family of four more than £800 to travel from Paris to London yesterday afternoon.
There are mounting fears Iceland, Austria and Poland could be added to the quarantine list next week, although insiders h ave hinted Portugal could be taken off the list.
France is expected to impose Coronavirus quarantine measures for people arriving from Britain from Monday a government source in Paris indicated tonight.
It follows follows the UK insisting that anybody arriving from France from 4am on Saturday will have to spend two weeks self-isolating.
‘Reciprocal arrangements are common in these situations and these are likely within days,’ said the French government source.
France is the world’s most popular tourist destination, and the British are one of the biggest visitor groups, meaning the quarantine will have a devastating effect.
Regions such as Brittany, Normandy, the French Riviera and Paris itself are normally packed with Britons in August.
According to official estimates, some 160,000 Britons are currently trying to leave France before the Saturday deadline, however.
Clément Beaune, the French Transport Minister, said on Twitter that his government ‘regretted’ Britain’s decision to impose quarantine, and confirmed they would ‘reciprocate’ with similar measures.
Despite this, Mr Beaune said he was ‘hoping for a return to normal as soon as possible.’
The UK government shut down the ‘travel corridor’ to France after the republic suffered a spike of just under 14,000 cases in a week.
This jump included 2,669 new infections announced on Thursday, meaning France has suffered 21.0 cases per 100,000 people in seven days.
This is above the threshold of 20 identified by Grant Shapps, Britain’s Transport Minister, as the key to Britain’s quarantine rules.
French prime minister Jean Castex on Friday declared Paris and Marseille as high-risk Covid-19 zones, giving authorities more power to impose stricter control measures.
This means that councils can shut down bars and restaurants, close roads to traffic, and restrict access to public transport.
Paris and Marseille, the two largest cities in France, have already made face masks compulsory in many public open spaces, as well as all closed one.
France has also reported that the pace of growth in the disease has been fastest among people aged 15 to 44..
Among the new infections were 50 gendarmes based in the south west city Tarbes who had returned with a group of 82 from a deployment in French Polynesia.
France has suffered more than 30,000 deaths linked to Coronavirus – a tally that is the worst in Europe after Britain and Italy.
Britain has recorded its highest Saturday case total in eight weeks with 1,012 new Covid- 19 cases.
The figures – which are more than 200 cases higher than last week – mark the biggest Saturday increase since 1,295 cases were reported on June 20.
Britain has now seen 317,379 cases in total.
Concerns of a second major surge had been rising in recent weeks as local lockdowns sprung up in the Midlands and North of England, and Boris Johnson said he must ‘squeeze the brakes’ on easing rules at the end of July.
Yesterday, another 1,441 cases of Covid-19 were reported in the biggest one-day jump for two months.
The rising numbers of positive tests have ignited fears that the virus is rebounding and sliding out of control.
But top experts have dismissed fears and believe the spike is merely down to more targeted testing in hotspots.
Government scientific advisers yesterday revealed Britain’s coronavirus R rate remains between 0.8 and 1.0 for the UK and England overall – meaning it hasn’t changed in the past week. But the South East is now the only region where officials are confident the rate is lower than the dreaded level of one.
