RED LIST RED MIST
Quarantine’s rules causing huge queues
■ by CHARLES WADE-PALMER
TRAVELLERS are facing “totally unacceptable” five-hour airport queues as passengers are sent to quarantine hotels.
On a brighter note, Prime Minister Boris Johnson yesterday said he hoped the country was now enduring its final lockdown.
Yet that was little consolation to those caught in the chaos as Heathrow Airport warned that Border Control staff are likely to struggle with the new rules.
And bosses say passengers from “red list” countries will still mix with other travellers.
From yesterday, anyone arriving in the UK from the 33 nations on the list must quarantine in a selected hotel at or near the airport for 10 days and 11 nights.
It is feared the safety of up to 8,000 passengers a day will be at risk as a result of extra checks on those entering the country and the mixing of passengers in lengthy queues. Union bosses warned the quarantine was not enough of a defence to stop mutant coronavirus variants spreading.
It could take Border Control 15 minutes to carry out checks on each “red list” traveller, doubling the standard time. A Heathrow spokesman said: “Our key concern remains the ability of Border Force to cope. Queues at the border in recent days of almost five hours are totally unacceptable.
“Ministers need to ensure adequate resources to avoid compromising the safety of passengers and those working, which could necessitate suspension of some arrivals.”
Brits desperately flocked home over the weekend to avoid facing the new measures.
Stephanie Lvovich, 50, flew from Dubai with her 13-year-old daughter Ava. She said: “We booked a flight as soon as we heard.”
Tom Weston, 24, arrived from Doha, Qatar, on Sunday. He said: “I wouldn’t cope well with two weeks in a hotel – and the expense.”
All guests sent to a quarantine hotel in England will pay a fee of £1,750 and eat nothing but airline-style food left at their door.
One traveller quarantining at the Radisson Blu Edwardian near Heathrow said he was “feeling sad” at the prospect of isolating.
Driver Roger Goncalves, 23, who lives in London, said: “My test for coronavirus was negative. Why do I need to stay in my room?”
The PM’S spokesman said the Government was “working closely with airlines and carriers who are ensuring flights are Covid secure”.
HEAVY metal band Iron Maiden have brought out some surprising merchandise... a range of jigsaws.
The group, who formed in east London in 1975, have released 16 puzzle designs based on their album covers, and they’re flying off the shelves. The news comes as jigsaw sales have increased due to people looking to occupy their time in lockdown.
But what else do you know about the rockers? Here NATASHA WYNARCZYK presents 10 hellraising facts...
The band was formed on
1 Christmas Day 1975 by bassist Steve Harris, who remains the only original member. Lead singer Bruce Dickinson didn’t audition for Iron Maiden until September 1981, and was immediately hired afterwards.
They have their own jumbo
2 jet, called Ed Force One. It’s been three separate aircraft over the years and has allowed them to play gigs in 59 countries.
Dickinson has been a
3 trained pilot since the 1990s, and professionally flies jets on the side. He’s even flown Rangers FC to play in Israel and Liverpool FC to Naples in Italy.
Not content
4 with that, he’s also an accomplished sword fighter and at one point ranked seventh in the UK for fencing. In
2013, Dickinson faced Olympic silver medallist Bartosz Piasecki ahead of the Norwegian Fencing Championship.
Harris was a talented footballer
5 who was offered a trial with West Ham as a teenager. He has a full-sized football pitch in his garden and it’s the home ground of his band’s team Iron Maiden, which consists of Harris and members of the production crew. Jigsaws aren’t the only items
6
Iron Maiden have put their name to. They have a beer brand called Trooper and released a video game called Ed Hunter, an arcade style shooter starring their skull mascot Eddie. They played a
7
wedding reception on the 1984 Polish tour after the band stopped at what they thought was a disco. When the newlyweds recognised
them they jumped on stage to perform a cover of Deep Purple’s Smoke On The Water.
Eddie the Head started off as a
8
mask at the back of the stage, which had capsules fed through its mouth that soaked members of the band with fake blood.
Their 1982 song The Number
9
Of The Beast angered religious groups in the US. Iron Maiden were accused of being a “satanic”
group and there were burnings of the group’s albums as well as protests during that year’s tour.
10 Iron Maiden’s producer
Martin Birch was involved in a serious car accident when the musicians were recording The Number Of The Beast album. When he received the repair bill for his motor, it was £666. Birch refused to pay until the mechanics put another pound on the total.