Returning to the UK soon? Good luck organizing the mandatory quarantine Covid tests

[trevoromgh]

Anyone who is planning to return to the UK in the near future needs to allow plenty of time to read and digest all the new regulations and policies you are supposed to comply with first.

I am in such a position currently as I expect to return in June 2021. 

 

In common with all destination countries you are expected to provide proof at the airline check-in desk  that you have had a Covid-19 PCR test within 3 days of departure which sounds straightforward but with prices ranging from 5,600 to 3,000 THB per test you need to search around.  Then ensure the test meets the UK Government stipulated standards and provides sufficient information on the certificate to be deemed valid.  N.B. Make sure you pick a hospital which just does travel tests else you may end up somewhere where people with symptoms go which would be a bad idea. 

 

As well as the above certificate you will need to complete a UK passenger locator form located online at the gov.uk website but before you can do this you will need to have booking references for either a quarantine hotel (if you are travelling from or through a country on the UKs banned travel red list  N.B. This includes transit through UAE or Qatar)  or you need to having booking references to prove you have bought and paid for two Covid PCR tests (Day Two & Day Eight) that you do yourself at home or your chosen quarantine location within the UK.  If you don't have these references you won't get on the plane apparently.

 

Unfortunately the UK Government have opted out of using the NHS to provide these tests for returning travellers and have instead 'Approved' various third party suppliers but states :-

"The government does not endorse or recommend any particular private test provider. Individuals and employers should conduct their own research about available providers and the tests they supply. Locations by region are included next to provider names in each list."  which seems like a total cop out to me.  On the supplier list provided the prices range from 160 to 575 GBP per person and upon visiting many of the supplier websites I was greeted with messages like 'Out of stock please try later' and 'Apologies if you cannot get through to us' and 'Due to unprecedented demand' so it looks like the UK Government have 'approved' a lot of cowboys who just want to take your money and run. 

 

It wouldn't be so bad but you MUST book with one of these organisations so that you are allowed on your plane. It seems crazy to me but that is the long and short of it.  So I would be very much obliged if anyone can recommend a 'reliable' Covid PCR Test supplier from the list and if you have returned to the UK recently how did you find this process and were there horrendous queues at Heathrow as the rumours state?

 

Of course all of this may become unnecessary if the UK Government bend to pressure and move from the Gold Standard PCR tests to the other cheaper tests that are now available.  I just hope they do this QUICK.

 

 

Edited April 8, 2021 by trevoromgh
Clarify

[ThaiPauly]

Sounds horrendous. 

 

I want to return, but after having gone through all this you are expected  to do something similar  if not worse, to get back into LOS.

Please keep us abreast of your progress, you will be helping many people who need to go through this process at some time  now or in the near future.

Many thanks and good luck

TP

[trevoromgh]

Update 9th April a.m

 

Thought I'd try and find out what questions are asked in the 'Passenger Locator Form' which apparently you should only complete up to 48 hours before departure.  When you press on START button it asks if you have an account which I didn't but thought it might be a good idea to set one up so attempted to so I entered my email address, mobile phone number, password (all 14 characters with uppercase, lowercase, special chars rubbish) and pressed submit.  An SMS is supposed to be sent to the phone with a verification code but instead nothing happened.  There was no button to press for HELP anywhere

 

After 15 minutes waiting I decided to try again but then when I tried to enter my details again it said the email username was already in use !  So I have run out of ways to create an account until I can get assistance from our non-existent GOV.UK support team.  What a shambles and remember all Britons returning to the UK are supposed to be using this system !    Will try the no account option and see how far I get.

 

Tried that but only got as far as entering email and mobile phone numbers then when I entered my June flight details it blocked me from going further and said my details would be deleted in 7 days.  What a joke don't they realise people need to plan flights way in advance. So short-sighted of GOV.UK.

Edited April 9, 2021 by trevoromgh
Add info

[Guderian]

19 hours ago, trevoromgh said:

Make sure you pick a hospital which just does travel tests else you may end up somewhere where people with symptoms go which would be a bad idea. 

 

And doesn't this just make a complete mockery of the whole "negative-test-within-3-days-of-flying" requirement. 

[polpott]

4 hours ago, trevoromgh said:

Update 9th April a.m

 

Thought I'd try and find out what questions are asked in the 'Passenger Locator Form' which apparently you should only complete up to 48 hours before departure.  When you press on START button it asks if you have an account which I didn't but thought it might be a good idea to set one up so attempted to so I entered my email address, mobile phone number, password (all 14 characters with uppercase, lowercase, special chars rubbish) and pressed submit.  An SMS is supposed to be sent to the phone with a verification code but instead nothing happened.  There was no button to press for HELP anywhere

 

After 15 minutes waiting I decided to try again but then when I tried to enter my details again it said the email username was already in use !  So I have run out of ways to create an account until I can get assistance from our non-existent GOV.UK support team.  What a shambles and remember all Britons returning to the UK are supposed to be using this system !    Will try the no account option and see how far I get.

 

Tried that but only got as far as entering email and mobile phone numbers then when I entered my June flight details it blocked me from going further and said my details would be deleted in 7 days.  What a joke don't they realise people need to plan flights way in advance. So short-sighted of GOV.UK.

You can only enter the PCL within 48 hours of your flight. Why would you be doing that now? I am flying back in 2 weeks and will do it at the appropriate time. Already booked my day 2 and day 8 tests, £180. The only problem I had was with the test and release scheme where you have another test on day 5. You can do it by post but by the time you get your results back quarantine would be almost over. Limited number of walk in clinics, none north of Luton. I was hoping to do it at Boots but although they have 130 branches doing RT-PCR tests, for some reason they aren't part of the scheme.

 

Already booked my test at Bangkok Pattaya Hospital, test in the morning, results in the afternoon.

[roquefort]

I returned last month, PCR test at Sukhumvit Hospital Bangkok, test in the morning, results that afternoon, cost 4,500 baht. Nothing particularly difficult or unusual in the locator form, it's just so they know where you're quarantining and how to contact you.

The two home tests in the UK cost £210 (although home testing is a bit of a lottery - there's no guarantee you use the swab properly so I'd be surprised if there weren't a lot of false negatives).  Bit of a queue at Heathrow, maybe 20 minutes, then ten days quarantine at home. The ridiculous thing is if you live on your own you have to break quarantine to go out and find a special postbox to send the tests to the lab!

 

All in all no big deal.

[polpott]

Just now, roquefort said:

The ridiculous thing is if you live on your own you have to break quarantine to go out and find a special postbox to send the tests to the lab!

What, in practice, prevents you from breaking quarantine? My local is 20 yards from my apartment.

[ThaiPauly]

5 minutes ago, polpott said:

What, in practice, prevents you from breaking quarantine? My local is 20 yards from my apartment.

A very well thought out property investment ????????

[poohy]

20 hours ago, trevoromgh said:

As well as the above certificate you will need to complete a UK passenger locator form located online at the gov.uk website but before you can do this you will need to have booking references for either a quarantine hotel (if you are travelling from or through a country on the UKs banned travel red list  N.B. This includes transit through UAE or Qatar)  or you need to having booking references to prove you have bought and paid for two Covid PCR tests (Day Two & Day Eight) that you do yourself at home or your chosen quarantine location within the UK.  If you don't have these references you won't get on the plane apparently.

Thanks for this ...... this is completely unknown to me

Silly me thought it was quick test here and "Bobs your uncle" jump on plane get off an in the pub!

 

Mind the way these Cluckwits are now messing things up it maybe even full blown quarantine on UK arrival in the near future

[trevoromgh]

13 minutes ago, roquefort said:

I returned last month, PCR test at Sukhumvit Hospital Bangkok, test in the morning, results that afternoon, cost 4,500 baht. Nothing particularly difficult or unusual in the locator form, it's just so they know where you're quarantining and how to contact you.

The two home tests in the UK cost £210 (although home testing is a bit of a lottery - there's no guarantee you use the swab properly so I'd be surprised if there weren't a lot of false negatives).  Bit of a queue at Heathrow, maybe 20 minutes, then ten days quarantine at home. The ridiculous thing is if you live on your own you have to break quarantine to go out and find a special postbox to send the tests to the lab!

 

All in all no big deal.

 

I'm glad things worked out alright for you but what if you had a problem signing in to the GOV.UK website or anything else to do with the process there is no contact 24/7 GOV.UK Helpdesk phone number or chat facility to call upon and the 48 hours left is ticking by.  If you think the British Embassy is going to help, dream on.  You stand to lose your air fares + all the money spent on pre-flight & quarantine tests. Hence my concerns about the system.

[roquefort]

39 minutes ago, polpott said:

What, in practice, prevents you from breaking quarantine? My local is 20 yards from my apartment.

Nothing (although the pubs aren't open!)

 

I was just pointing out the absurdity of some of the Covid rules that are put in place in the UK.

[roquefort]

26 minutes ago, trevoromgh said:

 

I'm glad things worked out alright for you but what if you had a problem signing in to the GOV.UK website or anything else to do with the process there is no contact 24/7 GOV.UK Helpdesk phone number or chat facility to call upon and the 48 hours left is ticking by.  If you think the British Embassy is going to help, dream on.  You stand to lose your air fares + all the money spent on pre-flight & quarantine tests. Hence my concerns about the system.

I have no illusions that the British Embassy or any other government body is going to do anything to help me.

 

You're on your own, but absent a complete meltdown on the Gov.uk website which would be highly unlikely, you should be fine.

[Upnotover]

Given that there are thousands of people arriving every day into LHR I am guessing the system is in fact working reasonably well, albeit somewhat inconvenient.

[sandyf]

1 hour ago, roquefort said:

All in all no big deal.

Bound to be, only Thailand makes things difficult.

[trevoromgh]

15 minutes ago, Upnotover said:

Given that there are thousands of people arriving every day into LHR I am guessing the system is in fact working reasonably well, albeit somewhat inconvenient.

 

I agree but if the system throws a wobbly (like I have proven it can already) those thousands would have no-one to turn to and be left without flights and no compensation.

 

[trevoromgh]

Whilst this breaking news story from a Grant Shapps statement doesn't answer my concerns about the system it does offer a glimmer of hope that the need for quarantine and testing costs may reduce from 17th May so I just hope Thailand is deemed a Green Zone then.  

[polpott]

Just now, roquefort said:

Nothing (although the pubs aren't open!)

 

I was just pointing out the absurdity of some of the Covid rules that are put in place in the UK.

They'll be open when I return in 2 weeks. Nice beer garden 20 yards from my quarantine accommodation.

[polpott]

Just now, trevoromgh said:

Whilst this breaking news story from a Grant Shapps statement doesn't answer my concerns about the system it does offer a glimmer of hope that the need for quarantine and testing costs may reduce from 17th May so I just hope Thailand is deemed a Green Zone then.  

How many boxes does Thailand tick?

 

A traffic light system, which will categorise countries based on risk alongside the restrictions required for travel, will be set up to protect the public and the vaccine rollout from international COVID-19 variants.

Key factors in the assessment will include:

• the percentage of their population that have been vaccinated
• the rate of infection
• the prevalence of variants of concern
• the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing

 

 

Edited April 9, 2021 by polpott

[trevoromgh]

3 minutes ago, polpott said:

How many boxes does Thailand tick?

 

• the percentage of their population that have been vaccinated
• the rate of infection
• the prevalence of variants of concern
• the country’s access to reliable scientific data and genomic sequencing

 Ask me 2 weeks after Songkran 

[polpott]

Just now, trevoromgh said:

 Ask me 2 weeks after Songkran 

My UK quarantine will be over by then. I really need to know what checks are being made to ensure that people are observing quarantine.

[roquefort]

12 minutes ago, polpott said:

My UK quarantine will be over by then. I really need to know what checks are being made to ensure that people are observing quarantine.

I've heard that some people are being called to check their whereabouts but it's entirely random. No-one checked on me.

 

If you do have to go out make sure you don't download the NHS surveillance tracing app or leave your phone at home.

[Tuvoc]

Yes, I'm heading to the UK in June as well, or maybe next month, and saw all these requirements. Will have to buy a new plane ticket that avoids a red-list country, as that will be cheaper than using my existing Qatar ticket and paying the mandatory hotel quarantine. However Qatar may be off the red-list by then, who knows !

[trevoromgh]

5 hours ago, Tuvoc said:

Yes, I'm heading to the UK in June as well, or maybe next month, and saw all these requirements. Will have to buy a new plane ticket that avoids a red-list country, as that will be cheaper than using my existing Qatar ticket and paying the mandatory hotel quarantine. However Qatar may be off the red-list by then, who knows !

 

Good luck with that. It's a weird situation we're finding ourselves in with a constantly moving target. Just wish there was more support from our government.

 

[blackcab]

6 hours ago, polpott said:

I really need to know what checks are being made to ensure that people are observing quarantine.

 

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/uk-seeks-to-increase-quarantine-checks-on-travellers-arriving-in-england-1.1187091

[The Hammer2021]

9 hours ago, polpott said:

What, in practice, prevents you from breaking quarantine? My local is 20 yards from my apartment.

local grasses

[The Hammer2021]

8 hours ago, sandyf said:

Bound to be, only Thailand makes things difficult.

On the contrary.  The Thai system  seems to be cheaper,  faster  and more efficient than the UK system.  But no surprise there!

[nickmondo]

its laughable.

as usual, Boris is looking after his mates

just stay here.

the UK is the last place i want to go

Staying here til they kick me out, then i will go to another Asian country

Sod the West!

[NanLaew]

The search for test clinics in England looks quite onerous and even more convoluted if one is seeking only those clinics that will provide the day 5/day 8 self-testing kit. However, if you are arriving in Scotland, there's a single portal website where you order and pay online with the kit delivered to any address in the UK.

 

I've checked my current itinerary and the international flight cost to arrive in Scotland or England is the same. The only add-on would be the 1-hour UK domestic flight of £77.

[The Hammer2021]

16 hours ago, roquefort said:

Nothing (although the pubs aren't open!)

 

I was just pointing out the absurdity of some of the Covid rules that are put in place in the UK.

Local curtain  twitchers, touts, snitches and rats keep the police busy chasing up 'covidiots'

[trevoromgh]

5 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

The search for test clinics in England looks quite onerous and even more convoluted if one is seeking only those clinics that will provide the day 5/day 8 self-testing kit. However, if you are arriving in Scotland, there's a single portal website where you order and pay online with the kit delivered to any address in the UK.

 

I've checked my current itinerary and the international flight cost to arrive in Scotland or England is the same. The only add-on would be the 1-hour UK domestic flight of £77.

Have you got the URL web link for the Scottish portal as I'd like to see if you can order it if you live in England and no need to land in Scotland?