Cyclist’s fury at being turned away from jab drive-thru
A MAN said he was left furious after being turned away from his coronavirus jab appointment because he was on a bike.
John Cooper, 61, said his invitation letter did not state on it that the vaccination centre in Carmarthen was a drive-thru, only allowing cars to pass.
On Monday, March 22, Mr Cooper rode his bike from Ammanford to Swansea and caught the train into Carmarthen, riding his bike to the facility before being turned away.
He said: “Why didn’t it say in my letter of invitation that this was a drivethru facility? Of course then I would have phoned the number given and rearranged the appointment. They do say in this letter you can phone up if you have particular needs or if the time isn’t convenient for you, but no mention at all of the drivethru.”
Mr Cooper said he was left baffled when bouncers outside the centre then suggested he would be allowed to get his jab if he called a taxi.
“I was a bit cross and one of the bouncers suggested I should go back out of the entry to the showground and call a taxi and then I could drive back through in a taxi,” he said.
“I was just in bewilderment. What is safe about me booking a taxi and then sitting for half an hour with a taxi driver? There was no bending of the rules letting you cycle through, but there was that daft suggestion of booking a taxi, so I made my way back to Swansea.”
He said he was also told that he wasn’t the only person who had turned up at the centre without a car.
“The bouncers said to me they’d had to turn away various people for walking in, presumably they were walking in from the local area,” he said.
“The real problem was simply that there was no mention of this on the letter, because of that you’d think there might be a courtesy car or something for people coming down without cars.”
Mr Cooper said when he got home, he managed to successfully book his first jab at a walk-thru facility in Llanelli.
However, he thinks the hassle and journey could have easily been avoided if the information had been clearly presented on the letter.
A spokesman from Hywel Dda University Health Board said: “We are very sorry to read about Mr Cooper’s experience.
“We have seven mass vaccination sites across Hywel Dda, and for operational efficiency and to provide as many options as possible to access the vaccine, our the showground site is managed as a drive through. All other sites can be accessed on foot. All letters for the Covid-19 vaccine programme in Hywel Dda UHB are generated centrally.
“We are looking urgently into ensuring we do everything we can to make these clearer in terms of local services going forward. We do offer transport for anyone requiring this to access our mass vaccination site, and you can access transport through our enquiries line on 0300 303 8322.”