News
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.
News
One of UK’s largest care home groups says it won’t hire anyone who isn’t vaccinated
New staff must have received the Covid vaccine
Care UK, one of the UK’s largest care home companies, has put a ‘no jab, no job’ system in place.
It comes after Care UK, which runs 120 homes, has seen more than two-thirds of its staff vaccinated.
A spokesperson said: “Everyone applying for a role which requires them to go into a home will be expected to have been vaccinated before they start work.”
Barchester, which operates 220 private care homes, said it would be insisting on staff having vaccines, warning that ‘if they refuse… on non-medical grounds [they] will, by reason of their own decision, make themselves unavailable for work’.
Employment lawyers have warned that such a move could result in legal challenges for unfair dismissal. However, Barchester stressed it might be possible to find such people work in roles away from frontline care.
Mike Cain, an associate at Leigh Day, said employment tribunals would weigh the care home’s clinical safety obligations to residents against the civil liberties of any employee whose refusal to have the vaccine might not be an impediment to safe working.
Barchester explains they expect all staff to have the vaccine by April 23rd, excluding those who have medical – including pregnancy – grounds for exemption.
So far 82% of its staff have received a first dose. A spokesperson said: “We are very aware of concerns around possible discrimination which is in no way our intention.
“We are doing everything possible to ensure fairness while also delivering on our duty to protect our residents, patients and staff.”
Bupa has said it is considering a policy for staff in hospitals, care homes and dental practices.
The largest not-for-profit home chain, MHA, said it is ‘being explicit with new staff that we want all of our frontline colleagues to take up the vaccine’ but it will not require new starters to prove it.
Unison, which represents care workers, warned that a ‘hardline approach’ risked hindering take-up.
Senior national care officer, Gavin Edwards, said: “Hesitant staff need encouraging and persuading.
“Intimidation and threats won’t deliver the results necessary for life to return to normal.”
News
17-year-old boy arrested after the George Floyd mural was defaced with racist graffiti
It’s the third time it’s been defaced
Blackpool Pleasure Beach officially confirms date for reopening
One of UK’s largest care home groups says it won’t hire anyone who isn’t vaccinated
17-year-old boy arrested after the George Floyd mural was defaced with racist graffiti
More than 100 cars turned away from Formby Beach by police as people flock from Manchester and beyond over weekend
All the cute baby animals you’ll be able to see when Chester Zoo reopens
