Travel: Prepare for long queues abroad and on arrival, warns Grant Shapps

‘People should expect more disruption than usual’ at the UK border, the transport secretary said

Waiting game: passengers at Heathrow airport Terminal 2 (Simon Calder)

The transport secretary has warned of long queues abroad for British travellers heading for the UK this summer.

Speaking to Naga Munchetty on BBC Breakfast, Grant Shapps said: “What’s going to need to happen is that before you actually board a plane or potentially a train or a ship, you will need to first of all show that you’ve completed your passenger locator form that you’ve carried out a pre-departure test and you’ve got your test booked for day two when you come back.

“All of that needs to be checked by the carrier, the airline usually, before you travel. So the place to expect queues are at the airport you’re coming from.

“Once you get back to the UK, all of that is starting to be automated. Talking to the airlines, what they’re doing is starting to integrate that in their check-in procedures.

“People will be used to checking in before they leave home, perhaps on the phone or computer, before they get to the airport, rather than than coming to the airport desk and doing all of that.

“I know that British Airways and Virgin, for example, are enabling a lot of that check in in advance which should help reduce the queues.”

Yesterday Mr Shapps announced that British travellers from “amber list” countries would be able to avoid self-isolation if they have been fully vaccinated. The move, from 19 July, is expected to spark a surge in summer travel.

At the UK border, he said, “people should expect more disruption than usual”.

Speaking on BBC Today, Lucy Moreton of the Immigration Services Union – representing UK Border Force staff – said: “It takes about three to four times longer to check somebody’s Covid documentation than it would to check them for border purposes.

“For someone who lives here, it would take two to four minutes to check they are who they say they are, but it would take eight to 12 minutes to also check they’ve got all the bits of paper they’re supposed to have.”

Mr Shapps also said the government people who have been vaccinated abroad may soon also be able to avoid quarantine.