Cap UK’s ‘rip-off’ charges, PM told
BORIS Johnson is being urged to cap the price of private Covid tests, which can cost more than £200.
Travel bosses and politicians say the punitive prices threaten the sector’s recovery and penalise Britons seeking a longawaited foreign holiday.
A list of providers on the Government website shows more than 100 charge £200 or more and just 11 per cent were under £50.The cheapest was from £20.
Twenty-four per cent asked more than £200 and a test at the Mayfair GP clinic was listed at £575 – but its own website said prices started at £399.
Test prices are capped to £34 and £52 in Greece and Italy and in France they are free for its citizens.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid has promised a “crackdown on unfair market practices”, saying holidaymakers should not have to fear “excessive fees for PCR tests”.
Mr Javid has asked the Competition and Markets Authority watchdog to investigate.
Lib Dem health spokeswoman Munira Wilson called the test prices a “rip-off” and said: “International travel cannot become a luxury that only the wealthy can afford.”
Avi Lasarow of Project Screen by Prenetics, which is on the Government list and tests at major UK airports, said some providers were “luring in consumers with misleading prices”, then charging up to nine times more.
He said: “The easiest way to make tests cheaper is for the Government to axeVAT on holiday Covid tests.
“IfVAT was removed, a family of four flying from London to Majorca could save £166, which would pay for the cost of the flights.”