Two-week ‘grace period’ on COVID tests for UK-bound hauliers
Fines on hauliers whose drivers fail to take a COVID test when entering England from outside the UK and Ireland will not be imposed until 19 April under plans to offer a two-week grace period, The Times reports.
UK Border Force staff have been told not to enforce fines for the first fortnight of the new testing regime, the newspaper reports, quoting a source that said: “There’ll be a two-week grace period – so it comes in on 6 April but for the following two weeks, if a haulier does not get tested, they will just get ticked off. Only after that they’ll get fined.”
It is understood that the delay in imposing fines, which will be up to £2,000, is to prevent penalising foreign lorry drivers that may need more time to adapt to the new testing requirements – which was only announced a few days ago – for example, because of language barriers, the newspaper noted.
Some 80% of lorry drivers who cross from France are of non-UK European origin, often from eastern Europe. There are also fears within government that imposing border controls that are too strict will hit Britain’s food supplies, with almost half of it coming from overseas.
A source told The Times: “We’ve got to find a halfway house and this is it.”
But the UK’s Labour opposition party warned that the delay risked the progress made by the vaccine rollout in the UK.
As reported by Lloyd’s Loading List, earlier this week the UK government announced that hauliers arriving in England from outside the UK from 6 April onwards would need to take a COVID-19 test if they are staying for more than two days, as the UK bids to limit the numbers of infections of potentially vaccine-resistant variations of the virus.
Following rumours for several days last week about the new planned scheme, the UK yesterday confirmed the initiative would begin from 6 April for drivers and crews of HGVs and vans and other light goods vehicles – both UK-based and non-UK hauliers. Drivers will need to take the first test within the first two days, then further tests every three days.
The British International Freight Association (BIFA) said freight forwarders were hoping that the introduction of the regime “doesn’t throw another spoke into the wheels of cross-channel trade” following months of other disruptions already.
It said its members, which manage a significant proportion of the visible trade between the UK and the EU, have seen major disruptions to their operations for many months as a result of Covid, the changes to how import and export trade is conducted following the UK’s departure from the EU, as well macroeconomic issues affecting all modes of international freight transport.
Earlier this month, when the UK government extended the deadlines of its post-Brexit Border Operating Model – claiming that it was due to Covid-related complications – BIFA said it was not surprised and “welcomed the news that government will engage extensively with businesses”.
BIFA added: “Controlling the spread of new Covid variants is critical and we want the new bespoke Covid testing regime for hauliers to work, but not impede trade flows. We invite government and its relevant agencies to work closely with us and our members and learn from the mistakes of the past – when some political decisions were made that appeared to pay little regard to how visible international trade and the frontier actually works in practice.
“BIFA members are pinning their hopes that the bespoke Covid testing regime lives up to its billing and is ‘made-to-measure’, not ‘off-the-peg’. Creating more uncertainty will be of no use to anyone involved in managing the UK’s visible international trade.”
Measures must be proportional
Logistics UK called for the measures to be proportional to the threat, noting: “It is worth remembering that drivers are, by the nature of their jobs and thanks to contactless delivery procedures, a very low risk category – as has been borne out by the testing carried out on drivers since the start of the pandemic where only 0.1% of them have tested positive for COVID-19. Any testing regime must be proportionate and not discriminate against those who are tasked with keeping British businesses and consumers stocked with the goods and services they need.
“We would urge the government to maintain a watching brief on the testing regime to ensure it remains appropriate and reacts to the situation on the ground.”
£2,000 fines
The UK government warned drivers that do not have proof of a negative COVID-19 test could be fined £2,000. It said drivers do not need to take a test if they will be in England for two days or less, nor if they arrive in England from Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man – known as the Common Travel Area (CTA), if they have only been in the CTA or the UK in the 10 days before arrival.
The UK said free testing for hauliers is available at haulier advice sites around the country. Those that take a test at a haulier advice site will be provided with a letter which states: the time and date of the test; the day of testing – for example, day 2, day 5 or day 8; some personal details, which can be used as evidence of undertaking the test.
Drivers can also use: workplace testing, if their company has bought the tests from an authorised test provider; community testing; home-based testing; and private testing – which they would need to pay for. Further information can be found here.