Airlines have been fined just 630 times for Covid paperwork breaches

All arriving passengers must arrive with a negative Covid test and a passenger locator form

Passengers arriving at Heathrow airport (Getty Images)

Airlines have been hit with 630 fines for failing to check Covid paperwork on arrival back into the UK, new figures show.

All international passengers into the UK must present a negative Covid-19 test taken within a 72-hour period, as well as a passenger locator form (PLF) and proof of booked tests. Passengers arriving without these face a £500 fine.

They also must quarantine for 10 days, either at home or, if arriving from a ‘red list’ country, in a quarantine hotel.

Airlines are obliged to check passengers have the correct documentation before boarding the plane to England.

Figures from the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority show that it has issued 630 fines since 11 February 2021 to airlines who fly passengers without the right documents.

However, Home Office figures show that more than 12,000 people have been caught for arriving at the UK border without the right documents, reports The Times.

Airlines face fines of £2,000 for each passenger who does not have proof of a negative Covid test and the same amount for passengers without a completed PLF, which should also include the correct test booking reference number for hotel quarantine or post-arrival testing.

Fines of up to £4,000 can also be levied for failing to provide correct information; and £2,000 for taking ‘red list’ passengers to a non-designated port.

The volume of paperwork has contributed to long border queues at UK airports.

This month, Heathrow’s chief solutions officer Chris Garton told the Transport Select Committee that the UK’s busiest airport had seen queues “in excess of two hours and up to six hours over the past few days”.

The airport executive warned that passengers were becoming disruptive as they waited to be interviewed by UK Border Force.

Mr Garton said: “There’s 100 per cent checking.

“Everybody is lumped together to be assessed in terms of their compliance with the paperwork.”