German visitors freed after holiday plans are dashed
THREE German women have spent three days of their Channel Islands holiday staring at the four walls of a hotel room because they arrived in the island just six hours before border rules changed.
The three misunderstood Guernsey’s border controls and thought they were the same as those in Jersey.
Until midnight on Sunday, vaccination paperwork issued by EU countries was not recognised by Guernsey, and anyone arriving before that from a category 4 country was governed by the old rules, meaning they would have had to isolate for two weeks.
The three women had planned to spend five days in the island as part of a trip that had already taken them to England and which will see them going on to Jersey, St Malo and Dinan before returning to their hometown near Dusseldorf.
‘Imagine you come to Guernsey because you want to see the beautiful island and all you get to see are the four walls of your hotel room,’ said Marion Dietrich-Brock.
Her friend, Ulla Brandt, said they had all filled out the online travel tracker form but had missed one detail. ‘We didn’t notice that our vaccination status was not recognised,’ she said.
The three were tested at the harbour and told they had to isolate at their hotel.
Three days later they were told that their vaccination status had been recognised and they were now being treated as category 2 travellers – but they had still not received the results of their tests.
And it was not until Wednesday night that they were told the tests were negative and they could leave their hotel room.
That left them with a little more than a day to make the most of their time, and Miss Brandt said that their first activity was to take a bus trip around the island.
Covid-19 response programme director Richard Evans said that it would not comment on individual cases.
Anyone who comes to the island as a category 2 traveller must isolate until they receive a negative PCR test result. ‘Travellers are advised that these tests results can take up to 48 hours to be processed,’ he said.
In addition, travellers were also advised that they had to make sure that the contact number they provide to receive SMS results is one that works in the Bailiwick. It is understood that the German visitors’ mobile did not.
Mr Evans added: ‘Travellers who are waiting for test results and 48 hours has passed since the time the test was taken, can call 01481 220000 and ask to be put through to the results team.’
