Transport Secretary Grant Shapps dashes back to UK from Spain after being caught in quarantine shambles
TRANSPORT Secretary Grant Shapps is to dash back to the UK from Spain after being caught up in own quarantine shambles.
He told The Sun this afternoon he was leaving his family in Spain and cutting his holiday short - just hours after he landed there on Saturday.
He said he would return to work immediately on the chaotic travel policy which has landed ministers in a mess.
It's understood that he flew out at the weekend aware that a possible quarantine would come into place - meaning he would have to isolate for two weeks on his return.
The Minister is heading back to the UK after pressure to deal with the fallout from the sudden decision to impose quarantine restrictions in Spain at the weekend.
Mr Shapps is expected to arrive back in the UK on Wednesday but will self-isolate for 14 days and work from home.
It comes as:
- Thousands of holidays remain in limbo today as people struggle to get refunds or change their bookings
- Spain demanded to be put back on the safe list, saying it had its case numbers under control
- No10 today warned that no travel was "risk free" in the current climate
In a statement Mr Shapps said: "Thousands of people have seen their holidays disrupted or cancelled due to the necessary emergency imposition of quarantine restrictions on Spain.
"I've been in constant contact with officials and industry representatives since I arrived in Spain on Saturday afternoon, when I reviewed the data and worked with colleagues to make a difficult decision to introduce quarantine.
“However, I think it's right to get back to work in the UK as soon as possible in order to help handle the situation.
"We’ve heard of lots of cancellations for holidays to France, Italy and Greece."
Brits are being warned not to cancel their own holidays to Spain as they may be left out of pocket, and to wait for tour operators to cancel them.
However, families who have booked flights and hotels separately may not get their money back as both remain operational.
France saw 1,130 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, while Italy daily cases jumped from 128 to 306 last week. Greece has seen coronavirus cases also rise since international tourists returned from July 1.
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Mr Charles continued: "Dominic Raab said they wouldn’t hesitate to introduce quarantine measures on other countries and that’s simply put fear into people."
The Foreign Secretary told Sky's Sophy Ridge yesterday: "As we've found with Spain, we can't give a guarantee."
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