COSTA DEL CHAOS
Anger and dismay as sudden Spain travel ban leaves thousands with cancelled trips – and those already on holiday facing 14-day isolation on return to UK
A North East dad says he is facing an agonising decision over whether or not to stay in Spain.
Patrick Bradley arrived in a resort near Marbella in the early hours of Saturday morning - only to learn about the travel restrictions later that day.
On Saturday evening, the Government confirmed people returning from Spain will have to selfisolate at home for 14 days in response to a rise in Covid-19 cases in the country.
But it’s not the time locked in the house back home that’s worrying Patrick.
The 27-year-old father of two, from Hartlepool, travelled to Spain with his fiancée Tyler, in-laws, son Quhey, two, and seven-year-old daughter Nahla for a post-lockdown holiday in the sun.
He said he travelled believing it was relatively safe to visit the country - but now is facing a tough choice over keeping his family safe.
Patrick’s daughter is considered at risk due to medication she takes for juvenile arthritis and he says he’s angry the travel advice wasn’t changed earlier if Spain cases were rising.
He said: “I’m not happy. We got here at 1am but now I’m looking at flights to see if we can come straight back, I don’t know what to do.
“When you leave the UK you feel safe and there are measures in place but now I don’t feel safe here, I haven’t seen many masks.
“It’s a nightmare. I don’t care if I get it, it’s about my kids, I couldn’t live with myself if they got ill.
“I’m angry that more wasn’t being said about this yesterday. The cases they’re talking about were found in the last few days so why wasn’t something said earlier?
“Why were we allowed to travel here in the first place? We should have been told about the risk at the airport but there was nothing.”
Holidaymakers booked up to go to Spain are facing a horrific choice between cutting their losses on expensive holidays or travelling to a country with rising cases and having to self-isolate when they get back.
There has been anger from a leading consumer group over the timing of the announcement.
Rory Boland, editor of consumer magazine Which? Travel, said: “Many holidaymakers will be deeply angry that the Government didn’t make this decision 48 hours ago, before tens of thousands of them flew off for their summer holidays in Spain.
“Many would not have travelled if they had known they’d face 14 days of quarantine on their return.”