Tourists in the UK?!

[pastaislife]

Visited a popular beauty spot at the weekend in Wales, all allowed now of course. Was really shocked at the amount of overseas visitors there?! Loads of hire cars, overheard one family (maybe French/Spanish) talking about just arriving in the UK to a car park attendant. Just feels like all the restrictions still in place are pointless is travel is still happening? Has anyone else noticed this at typical touristy places?

In cornwall a couple of weeks ago and spoke with a couple on holiday from Hungary and another from the USA. We are being treated like idiots and most are just lapping it up!

@Synthesiser

That's a bit worrying. Haven't the French recently started another lockdown due to cases being very high there?

No..it's coming out of lockdown..

@QuentininQuarantino

There has been a rise in xenophobia but obviously native resident Brits are unlikely to perceive it! It’s quite obvious to those who aren’t though.

Yeah they don't perceive f all if you ask me.

@Katie517

In cornwall a couple of weeks ago and spoke with a couple on holiday from Hungary and another from the USA. We are being treated like idiots and most are just lapping it up!

Why are you being treated like idiots? There's every chance they were vaccinated and had to quarantine.

[quote nonaomi]@picturesandpickles come on..

' I heard people speaking another language so they must be outsiders '

Is basically what people are saying on this thread. They're making huge assumptions. [/quote]
Not me though. You @'d me and I have not made any comments about accents etc.

Other people may be making assumptions.

But you are assuming the system is working. I am very sceptical because there is insufficient checking IMO.

FWIW certainly in recent weeks whilst some may slip through the net it's definitely not a case of open borders into the U.K.

"Border Force" are checking arrivals carefully (certainly at airports) and people enduring self isolation" are often finding themselves literally being policed. I certainly have heard of officers making home visits to ensure the individual is self isolating correctly and at the location stated on the Passenger Locator Form.

I agree there has been a rise in xenophobia and general racism. The police link this to both Brexit and Covid according to the reports I have read.

I work in an organisation with very high numbers of non-UK nationals on the staff and my colleagues report more issues.

@loginfail

FWIW certainly in recent weeks whilst some may slip through the net it's definitely not a case of open borders into the U.K.

"Border Force" are checking arrivals carefully (certainly at airports) and people enduring self isolation" are often finding themselves literally being policed. I certainly have heard of officers making home visits to ensure the individual is self isolating correctly and at the location stated on the Passenger Locator Form.

Yes! It's being taken very seriously and the massive fine is a huge deterrent too. It is NOT ' open borders ' for everyone at all.

During the last lockdown it was something like 8,000 tourists a day arriving.

'Home' quarantine is not a proper quarantine. Unless people are able to Harry Potter style magic themselves immediately home from the airports.

The UK government has prioritised international travel and open borders over everything else throughout the pandemic. They chose it over lives, health, and the economy.

Our lack of border control is why we've had repeated long lockdowns.

It's why 150,000 are dead and more than 1 million suffering long Covid symptoms.

It's why so many businesses suffered.

It's why the NHS is facing a 5 year backlog - probably will be even worse given many traumatised NHS workers are considering a change of career post pandemic.

Now we have the government permitting holidays abroad but advising against....they know damn well if something's legal, people will do it whether advisable or not.

@Tealightsandd sounds like you'd be right at home with the Aussies.. see ya !

@loginfail

FWIW certainly in recent weeks whilst some may slip through the net it's definitely not a case of open borders into the U.K.

"Border Force" are checking arrivals carefully (certainly at airports) and people enduring self isolation" are often finding themselves literally being policed. I certainly have heard of officers making home visits to ensure the individual is self isolating correctly and at the location stated on the Passenger Locator Form.

Interesting. Something must've changed very recently.

The lack of enforcement, including passengers arriving to empty desks and walking straight through and faked forms, has been widely reported over the months.

In any event, it's not a quarantine if they're making their own way from the airport/ferry terminal, often by public transport potentially spreading new strains as they go

On the radio this morning they were highlighting the fact that all the people who were about to go to a hotel quarantine were sat in arrivals in the airport with everyone else. So no separate area for those arriving from red countries.

This has nothing to do with xenophobia FFS. It’s questioning whether our incompetent government are doing enough at the border. We’ve all sacrificed so much. It’s illegal for us to travel out of this country. If you believe the current quarantine is working and being enforced then great.

I’m not so sure all are following it. So you get a phone call and you’re at home. They won’t call you again that day will they? So if you were so inclined what’s to stop you going out? People are very trusting on here.

I think our borders controls should be stricter purely because we have had three very long, strict lockdowns. Tourists shouldn’t be arriving here at the moment. We can’t even see family indoors!

[quote nonaomi]@Tealightsandd sounds like you'd be right at home with the Aussies.. see ya ! [/quote]
You're right, I definitely would. Much preferred to the UK "let the bodies pile up" AND repeated long lockdowns approach.

Just a small problem with me getting there right now... They actually really are taking border control seriously. Good on them.

In the city nearest to me I see loads of foreign number plates. They belong to people who live here in the UK. A foreign number late doesn't speak to the nationality or place of residence of the driver and passengers. I am sure that some people are perhaps not isolating as they should, but some people aren't social distancing or avoiding indoor visits as they should.

Personally, since it is easy to avoid these people is you are staying outdoors and social distancing, I would worry less about trying to work out other peoples business or overhear their conversations.

I was in Devon last weekend and I saw a German car with bikes on the back which looked like tourists to me. I suppose they might have quarantined. They might live here although you'd think they'd have a British number plate by now. I was a bit surprised.

I live in a tourist area too, and we definitely have overseas visitors doing the usual holiday sightseeing (ie not locals that are from different parts of the world) The overseas visitors are not making a secret of the fact they are here on holiday. Many Americans are here and Italians. It makes me wonder wtf is going on, as we are being forced to stay here even though we are key workers and in dire need of a holiday.

I guess they want the income from international guests, but it seems very unfair to me.

@Tealightsandd

The lack of enforcement, including passengers arriving to empty desks and walking straight through and faked forms, has been widely reported over the months.

Well....it may have been widely reported somewhere else but my report is that I, many colleagues and a couple of family members have been through LHR in the last year, all legitimately for work related purposes.

Not once I have heard any of them tell of being able to walk straight into the UK past empty desks and I darn well know nobody I'm associated with used fake forms.

OTOH increasingly I have heard tell of stringent questioning on arrival, one story of an individual being threatened with arrest if his travel history and reason for travel didn't check out (it did check out, he was legit, so he wasn't but he had a sweaty hour locked in an interview room) and in a couple of cases very recently people who were required to self isolate on arrival being visited by police to ensure they were indeed self isolating iaw the UK rules.

There's no doubt the system leaked like a sieve or was lax at times last year but certainly more recently and certainly at some ports of entry it is now being handled properly.

@Delatron

I’m not so sure all are following it. So you get a phone call and you’re at home. They won’t call you again that day will they?

Probably a bit of an outlier but as a FWIW one of the individual's I mentioned upthread who had to self isolate on arrival got a police visit and three follow up telephone calls on one day, either day two or three, after arriving in the UK.....

Well it’s great that it has tightened up versus last year. Seems strange people are spotting tourists then. Is it really worth the quarantine/hassle/cost/tests for a little break in Devon or Wales?! Plus nothing is really open indoors.

Yeah they don't perceive f all if you ask me
Keep your xenophobia to yourself please.

@Delatron

Well it’s great that it has tightened up versus last year. Seems strange people are spotting tourists then. Is it really worth the quarantine/hassle/cost/tests for a little break in Devon or Wales?! Plus nothing is really open indoors.

With regard to things like car number plates there are, or certainly were, plenty of Brits living long term in France who were reluctant to re-plate their cars........not sure how keen the UK police is on enforcing the UK requirement for re-registering.

Don't know about Devon or Wales but I do also know that in places like London as restrictions are reduced some of those "tourists" are actually foreigners working in the UK enjoying a bit of fresh air..

Well... this is all making me feel uncomfortable about moving back home to England in the summer (for work) with my foreign car.

I’m vaccinated and we’ll have to quarantine of course but I don’t want people tutting at the DC of they forget to speak English to each other if we dare venture out.

Venture out after the quarantine of course, before someone questions it.

We are away in a popular uk tourist area and it is awash with Japanese tourists. I'm hoping they actually live elsewhere in the uk and are just travelling from there.

Our 'strict' border control....

This happened during our winter lockdown.
inews.co.uk/news/uk/hotel-quarantine-travel-rules-uk-fake-covid-certificates-red-list-countries-870190/amp

Thousands entering UK with fake Covid-negative certificates on eve of red list travel rules

This is more recently about a week ago:

news.sky.com/story/amp/covid-19-at-least-100-fake-coronavirus-test-certificates-are-used-by-uk-arrivals-every-day-it-is-revealed-12282433