Tips on getting a test

[MotherofPickles]

I'm trying to book a test for my DS5 who's woken up with a cough. There are currently no drive-through, walk-in nor home tests available.
Does anybody have any tips on how to get a test? What's the best time of day to look?

Following and bumping - same here. Nightmare.

This is my fourth day trying with no luck - sorry I'm interested in tips if people have them other than neglecting children to spend the entire day refreshing.

They claimed there were tests in Kensington and Claygate last night but they lied - clicked through and no tests (neither is remotely close to where I live and I'd have to travel hours with a small child - but obvs they don't actually have slots so useless anyway).

Esher - Mobile Unit (xx miles away)

Torrington Lodge Car Park, 164 Hare Lane
Claygate
KT10 0QY

18 slots available.

Kens & Chels (Holy Trinity) - Mobile Unit (xxx miles away)

WALK THROUGH ONLY - NO VEHICLE ACCESS, Queensgate
Kensington
SW7 5LW

18 slots available.

This is what I'm being offered - but they've shown 18 slots from last night and when you click through it says this - it said this same message last night too, so obviously it's a lie.

Thursday 17 September

There are currently no slots available on this day. Try again this evening, when more test slots will be made available.

Day 4 post symptoms for my child who is now well but since none of us can leave the house (and they can't go back to school) until I get a negative, I have to keep trying.

I’m trying desperately to get tests for my daughters. Both high temps, no other symptoms. Both started new schools, one in high school. Really need a negative result back ASAP so they aren’t too disrupted again! Been refreshing the page constantly, daren’t go start cooking in case I miss a magically appearing slot!!!

So first, enter details for your child as if they were filling in the form. This will ensure that you get a test only for the person who needs it. If you complete the information as a parent, you will end up with a test for yourself as well.

Secondly, get every laptop/computer/phone/tablet in your house logged on and keep refreshing. When testing slots appeared, they only showed on one of our devices.

Thirdly, don’t log out once you’re in. Leave it on, even overnight.

Fourthly, refresh the page by switching between drive through and walk through. Walk though doesn’t apparently mean actually walk. We got a walk through space but when we turned up we needed a car. Switching drive through to walk through seemed to work better than refreshing the page which sometimes kicked you out or lost the postcode.

Finally, we got a spot released just after 10am. However, I think they release them all through the day so just keep trying all the time. The longer you wait between refreshes, the less lightly you are to see a spot when it appears.

Thanks @Hmmph

Have you tried your local authority page? Some boroughs have mobile testing sites that are not listed on the Gov site. It is a nightmare.

I've had no luck either.

So I have a perfectly healthy child at home bouncing off the walls with a cold and i either drive 40 miles despite a local manned testing site 2 mins down the road or sit at home fir 10 days...

Piss take

An empty test site at that

It doesn’t help knowing where the test centres are as, apart from a very few areas in the country, you HAVE to have an appointment to go.

Also apart from the regional drive in centres, they have mobile ones that move around. So they are two days in one place and another two days in another place. It doesn’t help you to know where a test centre May or may not be.

We too are being offered walk in slots in Kensington.

I'll just walk my 3 kids over to the other side of London then shall I?

(The middle child has a cough but they are all home as per the guidelines)

Apparently the mp is on the case as its an empty manned site but its not showing up on the gov site and obviously u can't just show.

Its like the nightingale all over again. Peope struggling get basic care and their ongoing treatment while a hospital sits empty

Spent all day trying to book one yesterday. Live in Devon and got offered one in Swansea. 8 hours round trip

I understand Hmmph but there have been sites that will test you without an appointment. My colleague's Son got a test this way and there have been poster's here who have done similar. If there is a local one near you it might be worth just turning up.

Today it says my postcode isn’t a valid UK postcode 🤬

I managed to get one For my son last night for this morning. Walk in about 2 miles away. I drive and then walked in. He had been ill with a cold and sickness but developed a cough yesterday that became continuous last night. The appointments just appeared about 10pm last night.

@ThymeFlies

Spent all day trying to book one yesterday. Live in Devon and got offered one in Swansea. 8 hours round trip

ffs! No other words!

I just managed to get one at a mobile site 7 miles away. But they want photo ID? Dd doesn't have a passport

Today apparently could go to Haverfordwest (468 miles there and back) while feeling ill. Not stopping for the loo.

Been trying since Monday morning. Got nothing till this morning, when I was offered one in Lewisham, 8.5 miles from where I live. I’d checked the box for not having a car.

No, I can’t walk my 5 year old 17 miles across London and back. Even if she is currently running up and down the garden like a lunatic. She hasn’t trained for a marathon. And besides, how many people would we potentially infect on the way?

This isn’t going to work, is it? It fine to have a blanket rule about needing a clear test before returning to school if there’s actually the capacity to provide the tests.

Somehow nobody in government worked out there would be a spike in demand for tests when all the kids returned to school just as all the winter bugs began to circulate.

Well, the poor lambs only had 6 months. We mustn’t be harsh.

Put in an Aberdeen postcode.

That’s working for people round here. And we live in London.

Or wherever comes up on the system. Try putting a postcode in for that place.

Maybe the system works in reverse?

Oh now I can have Taunton, that is more doable - it’s only 56 miles away. Much better

@Whatwouldscullydo I took my sons passport but they didn’t ask to see it.

Thats a relief. I dont need testing its only dd so I filled out the form for her and put in my number and email so i have the site pass

Does anyone know what happens after you have booked a test. I have been on line and it let me pick a slot and I have added all my details and confirmed it. But it then took me back to the main Gov Covid test page, there was no confirmation. Should I have seen something or have recieved something?