France transit/quarantine requirements are unfair

[Prochainesortie]

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.

[Prochainesortie]

I am definitely going to pay my cleaner if she can’t work (that was never in question). What I am asking for though is tips for her not to have to quarantine. She has pee bottles for the kids from amazon so they won’t take loo breaks in service stations. I am going to research if pay at petrol pump with card or on eg a BP app is ok. She wouldn’t be mixing with other
people if she did that. Anyone know who I can contact to check that is legal? My cleaner is very careful about following rules.

[BrieAndChilli]

There’s plenty of people in the U.K. who haven’t seen family, have had to mourn relatives from a far without being able to attend the funeral, weddings postponed etc. Just because your cleaners family are abroad doesn’t make it any different!!

We still haven’t seen my sister, niece and nephew or seen my husbands mum and aunt because they don’t live local to us.
DH nan died at the start of lockdown and we couldn’t go to comfort MIL and we had to watch the funeral online.
My sister had to postpone her wedding that was supposed to be in may and her honeymoon to Jamaica.
I’m still waiting for a scan for a lost coil, 6 months after the issue was found, I’m also waiting for dental treatment that was supposed to happen in March but was delayed due to Covid.

We are all having to deal with rubbish scenarios that are out of our control, what is in people’s control however is the decision to go abroad knowing that they quite possibly will have to quarantine when the come back, things are changing so rapidly at the moment that any intelligent person will realise that there is a risk to travelling abroad.

[Lemons1571]

@WaffleCash you’d be ok if you didn’t get out of the car during the ferry journey back to the UK. Wouldn’t have to isolate then. But I don’t know if that’s feasible / how long the ferry journey is (re loos etc).

Can’t she fill up the car at the latest possible fuel station in Germany, then refuel at the first place in the UK?

[minnieok]

My friend is in Germany, they have been told if they refuel in Germany and do not stop before the tunnel then stay in the car they do not need to quarantine. I think it took me 3 hours from the German border to the train so will depend on a good bladder! They are taking suitable containers for the men, she's going to just hold on

[IceCreamAndCandyfloss]

What about the other family she was travelling in the same car with? How do you know they have been as careful?

[BrieAndChilli]

@Prochainesortie

I am definitely going to pay my cleaner if she can’t work (that was never in question). What I am asking for though is tips for her not to have to quarantine. She has pee bottles for the kids from amazon so they won’t take loo breaks in service stations. I am going to research if pay at petrol pump with card or on eg a BP app is ok. She wouldn’t be mixing with other
people if she did that. Anyone know who I can contact to check that is legal? My cleaner is very careful about following rules.

She will still have to touch the petrol pump though.
The rules are clear, they aren’t there to be bent to suit individuals wants. If she gets out of her car or interacts through the window with other people for any reason at all then she needs to quarantine

[noses11]

What was unreasonable was announcing on a Thursday evening when the rise in cases was mentioned by the French Prime Minister on Tuesday.

A few more days for those who would have travelled out to France today to cancel, a few more for people to get back, would have been better.

I think the timing of the announcement was to reduce discussion and headlines about A level results.

[minnieok]

@Prochainesortie

If they refuel on the German border they will have sufficient to reach Dover and some.

[Iwonder08]

This quarantine is a joke. People arriving by plane can get home by public transport and stay with a family member/friend for 14 days, but people who are they staying with are not subject to quarantine. If a person does indeed brings covid home they are prettyuch guaranteed to infect other people in the same house who are allowed to go out and about. Why are they not imposing the quarantine on all the people in the household if it is so risky? The fact that every single country has they own rules (some ask for tests before entering the country, some ask for tests after, some do quarantine, some don't) proves that governments are not exactly competent on dealing with the virus. I am not convinced at all that whatever advice they are currently giving makes sense

[OliviaPopeRules]

@Prochainesortie

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.

Don't be so ridiculous, the rules are not prejudiced, they are based on the infection rate in some countries. I'm sorry for anyone in a difficult situation who had to isolate but that is the risk you take. I haven't seen my family in 6 months because I'm not in a position to take that risk, you cleaner did and that is her choice.

[Prochainesortie]

@dominicgoings- the rules are arbitrary. For example, if I were transiting through France today and had to quarantine in the U.K. for 14 date on arrival I read somewhere I could book a flight to eg switzerland tomorrow (currently considered exempt) and do what I want there as it is a safe country for 14 days. Granted Switzerland could enter non exempt status in the next 14 days but some Susan’s from Surrey might do that.

[OliviaPopeRules]

[quote Prochainesortie]@dominicgoings- the rules are arbitrary. For example, if I were transiting through France today and had to quarantine in the U.K. for 14 date on arrival I read somewhere I could book a flight to eg switzerland tomorrow (currently considered exempt) and do what I want there as it is a safe country for 14 days. Granted Switzerland could enter non exempt status in the next 14 days but some Susan’s from Surrey might do that.[/quote]
Well I don't know where you read that but it is rubbish. If you are quarantining you cannot fly somewhere else, if you do you are breaking the rules.
Living the nice reverse snobbery with the Susan from Surrey reference op, really showing your true colours.

[CherryCocktails]

How will the government enforce a 2 week quarantine for these people? Will they just turn up at their houses or something?

[MaxNormal]

Living the nice reverse snobbery with the Susan from Surrey reference op, really showing your true colours.

Susan from Surrey (on a booze cruise!) was a strawwoman created by a previous poster, OP is just referencing that.
But never mind, you got your little dig in.

[hoistbymyownzombiepetard]

Here is the advice from the British Embassy. It seems pretty clear

www.facebook.com/notes/british-embassy-paris/covid-19-update-transit-stops/3606924719365897/

[OliviaPopeRules]

@MaxNormal

Living the nice reverse snobbery with the Susan from Surrey reference op, really showing your true colours.

Susan from Surrey (on a booze cruise!) was a strawwoman created by a previous poster, OP is just referencing that.
But never mind, you got your little dig in.

I don't care who first said it. It's the same as Karen, misogynist BS with a bit of reverse snobbery thrown in for good measure.

[MaxNormal]

Well have a go at the poster who did then fgs, not the OP paraphrasing.

[Lweji]

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.

The virus is in circulation in the UK.
If there's a second lockdown it won't be because of people on holiday.
There are still hot-spots in the UK as well as flights.

Quarantine as "implemented" by the UK is ridiculous and a nuisance, and it's just a lazy way of compensating for lack of proper test and trace.

[Gremlinpoop]

It is a globe pandemic, many many people are not travelling and not seeing family because of the risks.
Honestly surely everyone knew this was highly likely to happen should they risk going?
I know many ( and am part of ) multicultural families who have just decided to sit tight this year. Sorry they have been silly if they hadent accounted for 2 weeks quarantine on returning.

[Lockheart]

The virus does not give notice and it moves quickly.

The government can't say "we see that there's a problem but we won't do anything for a week so you can all enjoy your holiday".

This is, unfortunately, the new reality at the moment. If you go abroad, you risk the situation changing whilst you are away. If you can't afford to quarantine, it would be sensible not to travel abroad for the time being.

[OliviaPopeRules]

@MaxNormal

Well have a go at the poster who did then fgs, not the OP paraphrasing.

Sorry I didn't realise you made the rules for Mn on what I can and can't post. I was commenting in the OPs post not the other poster. I assume the other poster didn't for force her to use that phrase so she is responsible for what she writes. I can't write something racist or sexist and then just say - well someone else said it first. What a ridiculous argument.

[crankysaurus]

Is she able to drive through Germany for longer and then have a fuel and pee stop before crossing the border for a short stretch through France?

[WaffleCash]

@Lemons1571
you’d be ok if you didn’t get out of the car during the ferry journey back to the UK. Wouldn’t have to isolate then. But I don’t know if that’s feasible / how long the ferry journey is (re loos etc).

No staying in your cars allowed but cabins are mandatory on overnight sailings (9 hours). Masks on between car and cabin, remain in cabin throughout.

[PaddyF0dder]

Wow.

It’s almost like international travel during a global pandemic is a bad idea or something.

[InDeoEstMeaFiducia]

@Palavah

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

A good many will not and there isn't the manpower to police it.