Travellers speak out over ‘knee-jerk’ decision

TRAVELLERS returning from Spain have expressed their frustration and resignation at the short-notice quarantine requirements.

In a decision announced on Saturday – less than five hours before it came into force – Spain was removed from the UK’s list of safe destinations after it saw a spike in the number of coronavirus cases.

Joe Allen, a TV producer from London who visited Madrid and returned on Sunday, said he felt let down by the lack of information to travellers about the “knee-jerk” decision.

Mr Allen said: “We waited for the appropriate time and I specifically waited for the quarantine to have been lifted from Spain, and I absolutely wouldn’t have gone with a quarantine.

“We all sort of resigned ourselves in fact pretty quickly that there was nothing we could do about it, we just have to follow the rules and we get that, but I think we’re all frustrated.”

The 32-year-old said he had not had any official communication from the Government about the quarantine but understood its importance.

He added: “I was expecting perhaps at border control there’d be some big old posters or digital screens – or people with megaphones perhaps saying ‘Don’t forget you need to isolate’.

“What would have been useful is for someone who made it clear in advance – ‘There is a real possibility that you could get stopped from coming home’. You can argue that I was naive for not knowing that, but I think it might have been helpful.”

Laura Wood, 41, from Oxfordshire, flew from Gatwick to Spain’s Costa Blanca with her family for a twoweek holiday, also returning on Sunday, shortly after the measures took effect.

She said: “It was a bit of a last-min