West couple’s relief as hotel quarantine ends

A COUPLE from Keynsham who were among the first people to check into a quarantine hotel have said they were looking forward to walking around without being “escorted everywhere”.

Ruth Conway, 84, and her husband Norman, 72, stayed in the Radisson Blu Edwardian hotel near Heathrow Airport after returning from a holiday in Portugal. Leaving the hotel on Friday morning, Ms Conway said although the staff were “very good” she questioned if they were “joking” when asked if she had had a positive experience.

She added: “You could come outside as much as you wanted. My husband’s a smoker, so it’s desperate for him.

“But it would have been nice to walk around a garden or something. That’s what I can’t wait for, to walk around my garden at home and to be able to get out of one room without having to be escorted everywhere.”

They had been at the hotel since February 15, the day the Government’s new quarantine rules came into force, and had to pay £1,750 for a ‘package’ including transport from the airport, two Covid-19 tests, security and food.

Father-of-three Theo Paulse, 39, who lives in Devon, had to quarantine after flying in from South Africa following a family visit.

He said: “For the amount of money they charge, I felt more like a prisoner than actually a guest here. They didn’t realise they were dealing with guests, they just kind of felt like they’ve got to treat you like some kind of animal and keep you in these rooms.”

Mr Paulse said he had ordered KFC at around 11pm on the first night because the food at the hotel was “expensive”.