Travelling back to the UK?

[Marjf]

While I appreciate there are hardly hoards of us queuing to go back to the UK (and personally we are very content to be here now) I am concerned if we have to return for a family emergency we will be subject to strict quarantine.  As there is no Covid here by comparison to the UK and many other countries with far worse records are allowed to return it seems bonkers.   I saw Portugal was taken off the naughty list today and was optimistic that Thailand might be too.  Nope. So are there any campaigns we can join / petitions we can sign.   Or is it just me?

[NanLaew]

It's you.

 

Now go home, do your quarantine and be quiet.

[Kalorymetr]

Dude just travel to any EU country, that has Thailand on exemption list(most have) and then to the UK...

[Marjf]

Thanks for these oh so helpful relies (WTAF?).   But if someone with a brain cares to read the question then I am interested.   

[Maestro]

Topic closed because of abusive posts by the OP.

 

[crazykopite]

Quarantine in the U.K. is not some flea pit of a hotel you can self quarantine at home or with family

[Guderian]

The OP's got a point that it doesn't make any sense to have Thailand red-lighted when it has had hardly any cases in comparison, and also when it's green-lighted by the entire EU. There's nothing stopping you from setting up your own online petition, of course, but you'd never raise enough signatures among the British expat population here to force the government to take any notice.

 

https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/sign-a-petition/

 

If you're registered as an Overseas Voter then you can contact your MP and explain your viewpoint to them and ask them to take the matter up with the relevant authorities. It won't change anything, though, as the red-lighting appears to have been a matter of governmental spite rather than logic or common sense.

 

Or you could invent a heart-rending story of trial and deprivation caused by red-lighting and the prospect of quarantine and send it to the likes of the Daily Mail, lol.

[VBF]

2 hours ago, crazykopite said:

Quarantine in the U.K. is not some flea pit of a hotel you can self quarantine at home or with family

Indeed - In UK it's actually isolation, in a place of your choice not quarantine - a different thing to what is required on entering Thailand.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk/coronavirus-covid-19-how-to-self-isolate-when-you-travel-to-the-uk

Read that link carefully as there are some exceptions and once 14 days have passed you're free to go about your business without any checks as long as you're healthy!

[Marjf]

Thank you Guderian - really.  I guess most Brits here are way better off than they would be in the UK so there is no big appetite to go back.   I just feel there is injustice and little or no logic to UK returners from Thailand having to quarantine / isolate when you can hop straight home and back into life from say Hong Kong or Vietnam.  To others thanks for all the advice on quarantine which I didn’t ask for or require.  

Edited August 22, 2020 by Marjf
Addition

[Jumbo1968]

Self quarantine, you leave the details where you are going to stay for 2 weeks, they state they will do random checks if you are there and if not you will be fined. Wide open to abuse nothing to stop you moving from the address you give originally to another.

[Max69xl]

19 hours ago, Marjf said:

Thanks for these oh so helpful relies (WTAF?).   But if someone with a brain cares to read the question then I am interested.   

Post #3 gave you an answer that would work. 

[BKKBike09]

I know two people who flew to UK last Sunday on EVA and are officially self-isolating in separate locations. As of today, no follow up whatsoever to check that they're even where they said they'd be, let alone self-isolating there.

 

It's pathetic that Thailand's not on the exempt list but it appears that, in practice, no one is actually checking that people are self isolating. 

[1FinickyOne]

Since you mentioned visiting loved ones, a friend in USA who lives near his mom cannot go into her nursing home... and she has but a few months to live... there are many deaths and sacrifices needed for this virus... it is quite sad. 

[superal]

On 8/21/2020 at 9:14 PM, Marjf said:

Thanks for these oh so helpful relies (WTAF?).   But if someone with a brain cares to read the question then I am interested.   

Your post is spot on and I fail to understand why your original post drew 2 ha ha's . I too would like ask  those who are responsible for making the UK list of safe countries qualify the reasons of excluding Thailand . It makes the whole scenario a joke as it is not taking into consideration the real stats and some might say they are calling Thailand a liar or is it simply the fact that there is not a reciprocal agreement ?

Indeed to enforce the argument , Thailand is on the EU list of 12 safe countries narrowed down from the initial list of 54 countries .  I am not aware if the exclusion has been challenged and I for one would like the reasons given answered by BJ at PMQT .

[sandyf]

15 hours ago, Marjf said:

Thank you Guderian - really.  I guess most Brits here are way better off than they would be in the UK so there is no big appetite to go back.   I just feel there is injustice and little or no logic to UK returners from Thailand having to quarantine / isolate when you can hop straight home and back into life from say Hong Kong or Vietnam.  To others thanks for all the advice on quarantine which I didn’t ask for or require.  

It is an unfortunate situation but it is politically motivated as opposed to logical, a knock on penalty of Thai association with China.

[superal]

2 hours ago, sandyf said:

It is an unfortunate situation but it is politically motivated as opposed to logical, a knock on penalty of Thai association with China.

well I never gave that a thought , so why punish the UK expats ? 

[jimn]

On 8/21/2020 at 6:31 PM, Maestro said:

Topic closed because of abusive posts by the OP.

 

Oh no its not lol. I all seriousness quarantine in your own home is easy. I flew back in July, no one checks on you.

[sandyf]

5 hours ago, superal said:

well I never gave that a thought , so why punish the UK expats ? 

Collateral damage, the UK quarantine rules are not selective, a bit like Spain saying why punish people from the Spanish islands.

[NanLaew]

5 hours ago, jimn said:

Oh no its not lol. I all seriousness quarantine in your own home is easy. I flew back in July, no one checks on you.

If you filled in the online .gov form giving details of where you were staying, how can you possibly state with any degree of certainty that the current UK government did NOT already check and verify that you were being a good boy?

 

Unless you want to claim here that you flaunted the rules of course.

[Jumbo1968]

9 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

If you filled in the online .gov form giving details of where you were staying, how can you possibly state with any degree of certainty that the current UK government did NOT already check and verify that you were being a good boy?

 

Unless you want to claim here that you flaunted the rules of course.

Unless they physically check the address they would have no idea you were self isolating.

The only people who would self isolate are people in employment, their employers and colleagues would be aware they had been abroad. Of course nothing to stop them going shopping etc .

[vinny41]

2 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

Unless they physically check the address they would have no idea you were self isolating.

The only people who would self isolate are people in employment, their employers and colleagues would be aware they had been abroad. Of course nothing to stop them going shopping etc .

Unless you live on the Isle of Man

A number of people have been jailed for breaking quarantine 

https://www.three.fm/news/isle-of-ma...-self-isolate/

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-...olation-rules/

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/article.cfm?id=57252&headline=Man broke quarantine and went to the pub&sectionIs=NEWS&searchyear=2020

http://www.iomtoday.co.im/article.cfm?id=57344&headline=Arrests for breaching isolation&sectionIs=NEWS&searchyear=2020

 

[NanLaew]

45 minutes ago, Jumbo1968 said:

57 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

If you filled in the online .gov form giving details of where you were staying, how can you possibly state with any degree of certainty that the current UK government did NOT already check and verify that you were being a good boy?

 

Unless you want to claim here that you flaunted the rules of course.

Unless they physically check the address they would have no idea you were self isolating.

The only people who would self isolate are people in employment, their employers and colleagues would be aware they had been abroad. Of course nothing to stop them going shopping etc .

That raises the question of why would anyone give the government an address and then chose to not stay there or ignore the regulations that they agreed to?

 

Maybe there was a rave they needed to attend?

[Jumbo1968]

48 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

That raises the question of why would anyone give the government an address and then chose to not stay there or ignore the regulations that they agreed to?

 

Maybe there was a rave they needed to attend?

If they give a false address the government would never know ?

maybe they would want to attend a rave, loads in Birmingham alone,

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-53797481

[Dan O]

14 hours ago, superal said:

Your post is spot on and I fail to understand why your original post drew 2 ha ha's . I too would like ask  those who are responsible for making the UK list of safe countries qualify the reasons of excluding Thailand . It makes the whole scenario a joke as it is not taking into consideration the real stats and some might say they are calling Thailand a liar or is it simply the fact that there is not a reciprocal agreement ?

Indeed to enforce the argument , Thailand is on the EU list of 12 safe countries narrowed down from the initial list of 54 countries .  I am not aware if the exclusion has been challenged and I for one would like the reasons given answered by BJ at PMQT .

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that there are approx 400,000 People Under Investigation for Corona Virus that aren't being tested and confirmed or denied as being infected. But then again they are not foreigners or returnees from other countries so they don't get counted.  No one talks about them or addresses that issue   They would not be PUI for no reason but they are treated as if they don't exist

[jimn]

20 hours ago, NanLaew said:

If you filled in the online .gov form giving details of where you were staying, how can you possibly state with any degree of certainty that the current UK government did NOT already check and verify that you were being a good boy?

 

Unless you want to claim here that you flaunted the rules of course.

I filled out the online form and stayed at home. If they check they call and never visit. I know people who returned from Spain etc and now they dont even check the form.