Travel updates: Airlines criticise quarantine over ‘four defective measures’

The Government’s quarantine plans due to be implemented tomorrow are full of loopholes, critics of the measure have warned.

Quash Quarantine, a group of 500 travel companies that accounts for more than £10billion of sales in the industry, has called the policy that means all international arrivals into the UK must isolate for 14 days, rushed and unworkable. 

Paul Charles, co-leader of the campaign and chief executive of travel consultancy The PC Agency, said: “There are more holes than in a sieve in this unworkable, poorly-thought and economically damaging Government policy.”

He pointed out that he would be able to take an essential trip to Nice, or Rome, for example, from London Heathrow, spend a week abroad before returning to an airport in Scotland, where the law is not in place, and hire a car and drive back to London without needing to quarantine. 

Others have pointed out that travellers could end their quarantine period by leaving the country again until the policy is ended.