An Angus golf caddie has revealed what life is like in hotel quarantine after being forced to isolate for 10 days when Covid rules changed.
Paul Drummond went to South Africa on November 21 for three weeks’ work with Norwegian pro Espen Kofstad.
But the 31-year-old’s plans changed when the country was added to the UK’s red travel list, meaning Paul, from Carnoustie, had to go into isolation on his return home.
He is due to leave his hotel near Heathrow Airport on Thursday night and be reunited with his family, including daughter Sienna, aged two, and partner Melissa Cowan.
Paul said: “The hardest part of this is having to Facetime my partner and daughter every day.
“She has no idea where daddy is or what’s going on. As far as she’s concerned, daddy’s still in South Africa working.
“I’ve paid for Sienna and Melissa to fly down on Thursday to stay at my auntie and uncle’s house, who live half an hour away.
“That’s obviously an additional cost, but I wanted to see them as soon as I got out.
“I can’t wait to see them, and even though it will be midnight I’ll be waking my daughter up to give her a big hug.
‘I don’t ever want to go through this again’
“She’s been Facetiming me every day, she can’t wait to see me and obviously I can’t wait to get out and see her too.
“I don’t ever want to have to go through this again – or have any other member of the public have to go through this again – and I just hope the standards improve here, for the money that it’s cost.”
Paul had only been in Johannesburg for three days when the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was found in the city.
He frantically sorted out travel arrangements and managed to make his way back to London via Nairobi on November 29.
Anyone returning to the UK from a red list country must book themselves a room for 10 days.
This costs £2,295 – organised by the firm CTM Limited on behalf of the Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC).
Paul claims the process of transferring to the hotel was “a shambles” – including dealing with a staff member who was not wearing a mask.
And he says that when he arrived at the Radisson Blu Hotel he was shown to a “tiny” room, though he was eventually moved to a bigger one after complaining.
He said: “I think they just chance their mitt with people and try and stick them in the smallest room they can when they arrive and hope people will just shut up and get on with it.
“It’s like a prison. Nobody comes in to clean your room. They leave five towels, a pack of wipes, some toilet roll and it’s up to you to do whatever you want, cleaning-wise.
“You get three 20-minute stints of exercise or fresh air outside per day, and that’s supervised from the moment you leave your room.
“It’s in a big car park at the back that’s all fenced off, with security guards in all the corners.
“There are probably 10 security staff on every floor, it’s total overkill. That’ll be where a lot of the cost is as well.”
He says one of the most troubling aspects of his stay was speaking to a woman who was suffering from post-natal depression and was having to go through hotel quarantine on her own.
He continued: “I’m not against quarantine, but I think it could certainly be handled differently.
“I don’t see a big issue with a family member picking up an individual who’s landed at an airport and driving them straight home, and allowing them to quarantine for 10 days in their own house.
“Then it’s all in their own, safe environment and it’s not costing them any money.
“I’m in this hotel room and I’ve not had a call from anyone; the UK Government, the Samaritans, nobody.
“Could they not arrange for someone to call me every couple of days to check that I’m all right?
“I’ve got family to speak to but some people have no one.”
CTM says it does not own or operate any of the hotels used by the UK Government.
A spokesman said: “CTM’s role in the managed quarantine programme is to facilitate hotel bookings for people returning to the UK with participating hotels as part of the UK Hotel Quarantine Programme.
“CTM has no role in setting hotel quarantine costs for travellers, and returns all funds collected from bookings to the DHSC.”
‘Majority of passengers satisfied’
A spokeswoman for the DHSC said: “The quarantine measures we have in place are minimising the risk of variants coming into the UK and safeguarding the hard-won progress of our vaccination programme.
“The majority of passengers who have used the managed quarantine service have been satisfied with the service and we would advise guests to raise any concerns with hotel staff in the first instance.”
Radisson Blu has been contacted for comment.
