Empty car park dismay as Covid-19 test tensions rise in city
PEOPLE desperate for a Covid test have told of their fury after finally securing a booking – only to be sent to a deserted car park.
Parents urgently seeking tests for their unwell children were among ‘‘hundreds’’ who turned up at the mobile site in Edgbaston, after securing a slot for Tuesday.
Visitors anticipated chaos as they travelled to get a swab test but instead they discovered an abandoned car park.
The mobile testing site is believed to have been on the car park on Monday but it vanished overnight.
NHS signs advising people to ‘‘only enter with an appointment’’ had been left stuck to a fence at the former Tower Ballroom car park.
The situation sparked anger among parents who had tried frantically for hours to get appointments for their sick children.
They told of their relief after finally securing a booking, only to have their hopes dashed when they discovered the testing site was actually an empty ‘‘locked and gated’’ car park.
John Waterman, from Sutton Coldfield, tried for hours to secure a test for his 11-year-old son, after he came down with a cough.
He was eventually given a slot at the Edgbaston site – only to arrive and discover an empty car park.
More than two hours after his scheduled appointment, he was sent a message telling him the Edgbaston site was now ‘‘unavailable’’.
John, 38, told the Post: “My son woke up with a cough. I didn’t think it was anything but it wasn’t worth the risk of sending him into school only for him to be sent home to get tested.
“I tried all morning to book a test, and kept refreshing the page. Eventually slots came up for Edgbaston, Oldbury and another two further away. We chose to go to Edgbaston.
“There must have been at least a hundred people there when we arrived. Cars driving up and down the road trying to find this test site they had been sent to.
“There were signs on the car park fence but the car park itself was empty. We spoke to a builder working on a site nearby and he said there had been something there the day before but nothing today.”
Another angry parent told how she turned up at the same Edgbaston site only to find a ‘‘locked and gated’’ car park.
In a string of tweets, mum Samantha
Moore wrote: “Finally managed to get a Covid test booked for my 14-year-old at the former Tower Ballroom car park in Edgbaston. No test centre on site and a lot of confused and frustrated people milling about looking for it.”
In response, Birmingham City Council tweeted: “Sorry to hear this. We are not involved in the running of mobile testing sites but we’ll make sure to alert relevant partners to the issue.”
It is unclear exactly what led people to still be directed to the Edgbaston test centre, but MP Preet Gill said she would be ‘‘escalating’’ the matter.
Fears the whole system is on the verge of collapse have been mounting for days as demand rocketed and infection rates spiralled.
Meanwhile, a Black Country father took his sick child on a 76-mile journey to Wales for a coronavirus test only to be told on arrival that the tests had run out.
The incident was raised in the House of Commons as Health Secretary Matt Hancock was told to “fix testing now”.
Mr Hancock suggested that the Government would respond to the testing shortage by making it harder for people who don’t really need a Covid-19 test to get one.
He said there had been a “sharp rise in people coming forward for a test, including those who are not eligible”.
And he said the Government could take further action to “prioritise” tests “so the people who most need it can get the tests that they need.”
Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, Jonathan Ashworth, highlighted the case of one Walsall father who had arranged for their son to be tested.
He told the House of Commons: “In Walsall, a father with his sick child travelled 76 miles to an appoiointment in Wales, only to find on arrival that tests had run out.”
Mr Ashworth insisted the Government should have expected an increase in demand.
He said: “When schools reopen, people return to workplaces and social distancing becomes harder, infections rise.
“So extra demand on the system was inevitable.”
The Health Secretary said a “record number” of people were receiving coronavirus tests, but admitted in the House of Commons: “The whole House knows that there are operational challenges and we are working hard to fix them.”
MP Steve McCabe (Lab, Selly Oak) said “It’s a shambles. There may be testing available, but people are finding it difficult or impossible to access.”
And Prof Alan McNally, director of Birmingham University’s world-class microbiology and infection institute, said: “The UK testing infrastructure is in complete disarray.”
There must have been at least a hundred people there... but the car park was empty John Waterman