£200 fine if you try to leave UK without a permit

TRAVELLERS face being fined £200 if they arrive at an airport without a new form under a clampdown on illegal travel.

From Monday, people travelling internationally from England will need to complete and carry a Declaration to Travel document downloaded from the Government’s website.

The three-page form asks the traveller to set out their reason for needing to go abroad during the travel ban.

It warns that they face fines or even arrest if they give ‘false or misleading information’.

The fine is initially set at £200 but repeat offenders could be charged up to a maximum of £6,400.

Foreign leisure travel is banned until May 17 at the earliest but essential travel is still permitted for a range of business, education and compassionate reasons.

The form states that people can go abroad for work, volunteering, education, medical reasons, compassionate grounds or for weddings, funerals and related events.

They have to sign under the following declaration: ‘I certify that the information I have provided is true.

‘I understand that if I provide false or misleading information, I may be issued with a fixed penalty notice and/or a direction to return home; or be arrested.’

Airlines will also be legally obliged to set out on their website that the form must be completed before travelling.

They will be checking the forms before passenger boarding, either at check-in – online or at the check-in desk – or at the departure gate.

A Department for Transport spokesman said that those who fail to produce the form, either on paper or on their phone, face being barred entry to their flight.

She said officers would also be conducting spot checks and have the power to ask travellers to produce a completed form.

She added: ‘It will be an offence to fail to produce a completed form and individuals could face a £200 fine.’ The Department added that police have been stepping up their presence at ports and airports in recent weeks to ensure passengers are complying with domestic lockdown rules.

Passengers who are identified by police as

attempting to travel internationally for reasons that are not currently permitted will be asked to return home and risk a fixed penalty notice for breaking stay at home rules.

But Henry Smith, the Tory MP for Crawley whose constituency contains Gatwick Airport, said: ‘I don’t see a purpose of such a document and it will even further dissuade people from travelling.

‘I think if people need to travel for essential reasons then charging them £200 for not carrying documents isn’t very appropriate.

‘I also think it’s concerning we have a government looking to introduce travel permits – something I think is quite alien to the British way of doing things.’

The declaration form can be downloaded from the gov.uk website.