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AIBU?

France transit/quarantine requirements are unfair

301 replies

Prochainesortie · 15/08/2020 09:57

I know 5 families currently in relatively Covid safe European families (Eg Germany, Poland etc) visiting their own families who will now have to quarantine due to transiting France for a few hours and using the Eurotunnel. They won’t stay the night in France just refuel once due to driving distances, they won’t exit the car in the eurotunnel. 1 is my cleaner and she is panicking about no income on return. She doesn’t have online shopping and her children won’t be allowed out of her small flat to exercise for 14 days! The only reason she drove was to be safer and avoid airports! I think the U.K. government is unreasonable given France is such a transit country. More notice should have been given and they need to relax the transit requirements urgently. I agree that spending the night in France might increase the risk but 1-2 refuel/stop should be allowed as long as masks/sanitiser etc are used. My cleaner is driving in a big car with another family, I told her to look into driving through Germany for longer/carrying some fuel if possible. Hopefully she will find a way to avoid the quarantine legally by not having to stop.

OP posts:
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Am I being unreasonable?

477 votes. Final results.

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You are being unreasonable
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You are NOT being unreasonable
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edwinbear · 15/08/2020 10:02

YABVU. Anyone who chooses to go on holiday in the middle of a global pandemic, going against Foreign Office travel advice, has to accept the rules could change very quickly.

I’m sorry your cleaner has been inconvenienced, but I’m more concerned about the whole of the UK having to go back into lockdown because of a few people who can’t possibly go without a foreign holiday for a year.

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AbbieFB · 15/08/2020 10:03

I know two families in the same situation (related to each other). They both made arrangements with work to WFH on their return should the need arise. They knew the writing was on the wall before they left.

I think it was a sensible thing to do. Anyone that travels during a pandemic has to realise it’s an ever changing situation and that rules can change quickly.

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FartingNora · 15/08/2020 10:04

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Palavah · 15/08/2020 10:06

I wonder how many people in that situation will actually quarantine. It's hard to see how they pose a material risk.

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Toddlerteaplease · 15/08/2020 10:06

It's not unfair and I wish people would stop whinging about it. Everyone has known for weeks that this was a string possibility. They chose to go. If they can't quarantine, they should have cancelled.

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Toddlerteaplease · 15/08/2020 10:07

My friend is in France at the minute. They can and will quarantine when they get home, they didn't decide they were definitely going to go until the night before they went.

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LakieLady · 15/08/2020 10:08

That's what they said on tv yesterday, @FartingNora. It's ok if you don't get out of the car, but unless you can get someone else to fill your tank, that's unavoidable on a long journey.

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Ellisandra · 15/08/2020 10:08

Well, it’s going to be shit for many people - and overkill.

But how else do you manage it?

Someone who reckons that they’re only in transit with one fuel stop, stays in the car... really? Or did child one use the loo at the petrol station, child two use the loo on the Eurotunnel, adult one decide to stretch their legs up and down a couple of sections of the Eurotunnel, adult two forget to hand sanitise after receiving passports back...

How do you separate those people, from the ones who really did stay in the car?

The 3 families I know who are abroad currently and the 1 who goes next week, all made their decision to go knowing that they could do a 14 day quarantine if needed.

I can have sympathy for your cleaner, without thinking the rule should be any different for her.

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purpledagger · 15/08/2020 10:09

I can't really sympathise because everyone who travelled abroad were aware of the risks when they made the decision to travel.

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MaxNormal · 15/08/2020 10:09

I’m sorry your cleaner has been inconvenienced, but I’m more concerned about the whole of the UK having to go back into lockdown because of a few people who can’t possibly go without a foreign holiday for a year.

OPs cleaner was presumably visiting her family.

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Ellisandra · 15/08/2020 10:10

Just to clarify - I don’t mean overkill in general! I mean that there will be specifics of individual situations where the general rules will be overkill.

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EmbarrassingAdmissions · 15/08/2020 10:16

For anyone in the same position as the cleaner wrt shopping or medications:

Call 0808 196 3646 (8am to 8pm) to arrange volunteer support. You can arrange one-off support, or schedule more regular help whilst you are self-isolating.

It does nothing to address her lack of income while she and the children are self-isolating.

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Prochainesortie · 15/08/2020 10:17

My cleaner is not on a proper holiday. She is in Poland visiting her family, her elderly mum and mourning her grandmother who died in May. She just has to refuel once she says. You can’t get out of the eurotunnel itself at the moment. She is one of 5 families for whom this is the straw that broke the camel’s back and I think she will be returning to Poland permanently as soon as she can. The rules are prejudicial towards Europeans visiting family and just transiting back to the U.K. because 1 fuel stop= 14 day full on quarantine.

OP posts:
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dontdisturbmenow · 15/08/2020 10:18

They took a risk going. Their own country could have been put on the list, it happens to be France. The authority are not going to start dealing with questioning everyone and whether they got out of their car or not and trying to ascertain whether they are lying or not.

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Ellisandra · 15/08/2020 10:20

OP - you can always put your money where your mouth is and balance the unfairness by still paying your cleaner.

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Ethelfleda · 15/08/2020 10:20

What I don’t get is all these people ‘rushing to get back’ before the restrictions, either. I read an article on BBC about a family who arrived back 8 minutes before the restrictions were brought in.
I mean - how are they at any less risk of being infected with Covid than if they’d arrived 8 minutes later?? Surely they should go in quarantine as well?!

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Mumratheevergiving · 15/08/2020 10:20

It’s been in the media for days that travellers from France were likely to have to go into quarantine so it wasn’t announced out of the blue, they could have returned earlier. I’m glad they got to visit families but we have all had to accept personal sacrifices for the greater good this year and quarantine is one of those.

OP as you are concerned about your cleaner’s predicament and lack of online shopping you could practically help by offering to drop her some supplies round.

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Jokie · 15/08/2020 10:20

@edwinbear

YABVU. Anyone who chooses to go on holiday in the middle of a global pandemic, going against Foreign Office travel advice, has to accept the rules could change very quickly.

I’m sorry your cleaner has been inconvenienced, but I’m more concerned about the whole of the UK having to go back into lockdown because of a few people who can’t possibly go without a foreign holiday for a year.

That's a bit of a generalised statement. Up until 48hours ago, the advice for FCO was that travel was permitted but "show caution". There was nowhere that stated that travel was not permitted to France.

Most of the people I know that are affected were visiting family. One friend did go to France camping because everywhere in the UK was fully booked and double the price.
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Ylvamoon · 15/08/2020 10:23

I think having 1-2 fuel (and toilet breaks), does actually carry risks. These places have naturally a high turnover of people, it really just takes one person with corona to cough right beside you to tenfold your chance to getting it.
There are many people who have been sensible and not visited family this summer, you travel, you take the risk!
People should be wider after Spain was added to the quarantine list.

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SnackSizeRaisin · 15/08/2020 10:23

If I were her I would not have told anyone I was going and would not stick to the quarantine. (If I really had only stopped once for fuel). That would be the common sense approach.
People in the UK seem to have lost all judgement and become martyrs to sticking to the letter of these new rules.
Why do 80% of people think it's fine to break the speed limit, yet these new rules are 100% to be obeyed?

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Reluctantbettlynch · 15/08/2020 10:23

@edwinbear

YABVU. Anyone who chooses to go on holiday in the middle of a global pandemic, going against Foreign Office travel advice, has to accept the rules could change very quickly.

I’m sorry your cleaner has been inconvenienced, but I’m more concerned about the whole of the UK having to go back into lockdown because of a few people who can’t possibly go without a foreign holiday for a year.

It's not just choosing to go on holiday. This attitude really pisses me off. Many people have immediate family that they only see rarely, in some cases they are of an age / have a health condition that means that you may never see them again if you don't travel this year. Then you get smug mn idiots parroting the idiocy of swanning off on holiday.
There are some people who prioritise holidays and that's their choice; but surely even the keyboard idiots have compassion for people missing their families.
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FartingNora · 15/08/2020 10:24

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Ellisandra · 15/08/2020 10:24

But @Prochainesortie how are you going to separate those who genuinely refuel once, and those who have visited family but stopped off on the way home? And what about the people who booked a gîte in rural France and came into contact with less people in France than they would have done staying home?

You can’t make it fair - or based on an individual assessment for every single traveller.

Your cleaner made her choice in an uncertain environment. The decision has been post-dated, so many people will get back before the cut-off.

How else would you have applied it?

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Ponoka7 · 15/08/2020 10:25

The alternative is to have a test on return. Did she have a test before seeing her Mum?

Has it not quite sunk in what a pandemic means? Unfortunately that means not seeing family. I know people from many countries without our income levels, welfare and health care system, who won't go home visiting, because they couldn't live with adding to the infection numbers.

It seems unfair when people are going on holiday, but we should be restricting our movements. There was always the possibility that this would die out.

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FartingNora · 15/08/2020 10:25

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