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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

confused re Wales post travel testing if not permanent Welsh resident

51 replies

FelineFoxy · 30/07/2021 09:37

We are in France, about to return to England. So Day2&8 pcrs + quarantine.
However DD17 is going to Wales the next day. So 'port of entry' is England, but address on the passenger locator form will be Wales, that is where she will quarantine. For context, we live in England, not Wales (she is visiting a friend).
I understand that Welsh residents have to use a government specified pcr provider called CTM (in fact they are understandably annoyed because us English can shop around and use cheaper private suppliers).
However when I tried to book her Day2&8 pcr with CTM their website says "each order must be for each travellers home address. You are not allowed to order tests to be delivered to your address for people who are not normally resident at the delivery address.”

I presumed therefore that the ‘only use CTM not private suppliers’ rule does NOT apply to Welsh visitors (only for Welsh residents) - I have therefore ordered her pcrs from a private supplier. These will be delivered to my home address in England & I plan to courier the tests to her in Wales.

So to recap, seemingly as an English resident I can't order from CTM.
However I am now worried that using a private supplier's test while in Wales might cause a problem.
Has anyone else done this?

PS. i have spoken to someone at CTM who was clueless, just said look online. Can't find anything online

OP posts:
user1471539385 · 30/07/2021 09:54

Traveling to Wales and visiting a friend is not quarantining.

titchy · 30/07/2021 09:55

@user1471539385

Traveling to Wales and visiting a friend is not quarantining.
This Hmm
ViceLikeBlip · 30/07/2021 09:56

Yeah, she can't do that.

gurglebelly · 30/07/2021 09:56

Surely the whole point of quarantine is that you remain within your household, not that you are free to go off visiting other people Confused

Star81 · 30/07/2021 09:58

Sorry, but you have to leave the port / airport and go straight to your quarantining address. They ask where you will be so you can’t put 2 addresses !

WelshWhisky · 30/07/2021 09:58

Surely the whole point of quarantine is that you remain within your household, not that you are free to go off visiting other people

This

SMabbutt · 30/07/2021 09:58

I don't think she can come from France to her home in England then travel to Wales the next day as that would be breaching quarantine requirements. As she's supposed to quarantine when she get back in to England from France my guess is there's no provision or instruction because it isn't allowed.

WeeWelshWoman · 30/07/2021 10:00

She shouldn't be traveling to see her friend in Wales.

BadTimesAtTheElRoyale · 30/07/2021 10:00

She has to quarantine with you. You can't come back and then a day later go to Wales.

UntilYourNextHairBrainedScheme · 30/07/2021 10:03

Those saying travelling to visit a friend isn't quarantining sound logical except for the fact that those resident outside the UK travelling to visit friends or family in any UK country can - and indeed have to- quarantine at a nominated UK address.
This is infuriatingly stupid for those of us double vaccinated and travelling to the UK from countries with vastly lower overall incidence and lower varient incidence than the UK btw.

None of it is actually logical and its still incredibly poorly and incompletely thought through on the part of the goverments of UK countries.

There just isn't a correct answer for some questions because not every scenario has been planned for.

Meaures for anyone doing anything other than going on a standard holiday leaving from and returning to a UK home address are a delightful mixture of punitive and half cocked...

user1471539385 · 30/07/2021 10:28

I think the key words here are ‘those resident outside the UK’. That isn’t the case here. UK residents are instructed to quarantine at home. At the moment the choice is either that or don’t travel to countries that require quarantine.

trollopolis · 30/07/2021 10:38

The rules won't cover this because you are not meant to do it.

UK residents are to quarantine at home.

If she is travelling straight from point of entry to the place where she will quarantine, then that is the address which goes on the locator form and to which the tests should be ordered. If the person should not be at that address, then there's no way to do it

Banani · 30/07/2021 10:59

She needs to quarantine at home, she can’t go off to visit friends the following day and ‘quarantine’ there, that’s not quarantine.

Original poster
FelineFoxy · 30/07/2021 12:01

Apparently if the journey to your place of quarantine is long you are allowed to stop off overnight on the way. (We looked into routes to Wales and the overnight stop off is inevitable because by the time we arrive in England there are no more trains)
My understanding is that, as long as it is genuinely part of your return journey (which this would be) then it is ok. I imagine quite a few people in Wales would have to return via a UK airport or a ferry port outside of Wales and then have a long journey back that would necessitate a stop over.
In fact I phoned the gov helpline and was told this would be ok.

However I don't want to fall foul of the pcr test stipulations.

Has any visitor to Wales bought from a private supplier, since CTN seem to limit sales to Welsh residents???

OP posts:
titchy · 30/07/2021 12:26

I imagine quite a few people in Wales would have to return via a UK airport or a ferry port outside of Wales and then have a long journey back that would necessitate a stop over.

But as you said in your OP their home is in Wales. Her home is England. She is going home. THEN trying to travel. You are trying to circumvent the rules by justifying the overnight stay in England as necessary as if it was a hotel. It isn't.

yoursfroobly · 30/07/2021 12:32

I arrived from France (Eurostar) then got a private car to take me to Wales. I don't know where these strange test restrictions are coming from as I simply used private coronavirus tests dot com or something like that.

As an aside, I agree you are bending the rules here. She shouldn't be travelling to her friends. If you are quarantining in a property where other people are residing who did not travel with you you have to stay in different rooms/use different bathroom etc. Fully self isolate. Let's be honest, she's not going to do that. She is breaking the rules.

yoursfroobly · 30/07/2021 12:34

Also, Wales don't do day 5 test to release so it probably makes sense for your daughter to stay at her actual home in England and travel after day 5.
Stop trying to massage the rules to fit what you want ?! France numbers are horrendous right now, she shouldn't be risking a whole other household in Wales

Tinkywinkydinkydoo · 30/07/2021 12:35

I live in Wales and have recently travelled, I came through Bristol airport but came straight home, you’re not allowed to stop off at another residence first, you have to travel straight here then isolate. we do not have the same rules as England. She is not coming straight here if she is going to any other residence first. She would have to come straight here, put the address she is staying at on all the forms and declare that as her “home address” then have to isolate at her friends house where she will receive phone calls to make sure she is staying inside.

Tinkywinkydinkydoo · 30/07/2021 12:38

Also as pp says, you have to isolate for 10 days, there’s no release after 5 even with a negative test.

Overthebow · 30/07/2021 12:40

Yes Wales has different rules. She isn’t allowed to do that.

SilentPanic · 30/07/2021 12:41

Please don't travel from abroad and ignore the quarantine rules by coming to Wales.

Tibtab · 30/07/2021 12:43

So she’s going to visit her friend but be locked in a bedroom on her own and avoid contact with this other family? What is the point of visiting if she cannot interact with them?

MyDcAreMarvel · 30/07/2021 12:43

The stop off is if you were travelling from say Newcastle to Cornwall where you live. She can’t just go to Wales.

UmamiMammy · 30/07/2021 12:52

Why isn't your dd isolating at home in accordance with the rules? Travelling to visit friends isn't allowed.

BadTimesAtTheElRoyale · 30/07/2021 12:58

There is no test to release in Wales.