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Four travellers fined £10,000 each for failing to declare they were coming from ‘red-list’ country
‘They were identified and received £10,000 fines as a result’
Four passengers have been fined £10,000 each for failing to declare that they were returning from a ‘red-list’ country.
Anyone travelling to England from one of the 33 high-risk countries must now quarantine for 10 days under the new rules.
If travellers lie on their passenger locator form about where they were travelling from they risk facing a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Passengers were stopped at Birmingham Airport by officials after they failed to declare that they were returning from a ‘red-list’ country.
Temporary Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd said at a meeting held by the West Midlands strategic policing and crime board: “By midday yesterday, on the first day of implementation, we have received six passengers who had declared travelling from a red list country, who were taken to the quarantine hotel.
“We also had four passengers who were identified as having travelled from a red list country, that hadn’t declared it.”
He explained that for those who ‘attempted to hide their routes’ it has ‘not worked out’.
“They were identified and received £10,000 fines as a result,” he said.
It’s not confirmed which country the travellers had travelled from, but they were all fined individually.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last week: “People who flout these rules are putting us all at risk.
“We’re also coming down hard on people who provide false information on the passenger locator form.
“Anyone who lies on the passenger locator form and tries to conceal that they’ve been in a country on the red list in the 10 days before arrival here will face a prison sentence of up to 10 years.”
Birmingham Airport is one of the five airports in England where people requiring hotel quarantine can enter the UK.
For their ten-day stay, individuals must pay £1,750. A second person sharing the room must pay £650, making the total £2,400 for two. The rate for children is £325.
If passengers leave their quarantine hotel before their ten days are up they will be handed a £5,000 coronavirus fine.