Parents have cancelled day trips to Lapland to see Santa amid confusion over Scotland’s new coronavirus travel rules.
Passengers must take a PCR or lateral flow device (LFD) test before the return journey to Scotland, isolate on arrival, book a laboratory test two days later and then wait for the results before interacting with the public.
Those who cannot take extra time off work are effectively disqualified from weekend winter getaways, including families hoping to visit Santa Claus Village in Lapland, Finland.
Families who did not take lateral flow tests with them in their suitcases have found themselves stranded as they cannot obtain the devices abroad, and must queue for a time-consuming PCR test.
Some people have been caught trying to pass off a PCR test taken before going abroad as their day two return test to shorten their isolation period. Jason Leitch, national clinical director, told Good Morning Scotland on BBC Radio Scotland: “They shouldn’t do that. They should do it when they land. I don’t think they can get away with that. The rules are you have to do a PCR test wherever you have come from, for now, and we hope this is just temporary, because of Omicron.
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“If you are not from a red country you have to do a PCR test within two days and isolate until it is back.”
Shona Thorne, from Thorne Travel in Ayrshire, said the testing regime was a farce and “has left customers in chaos”.
She said: “We have got customers in Lapland and there is no place over there to get LFDs on these Christmas day trips so customers are now wondering how they will get back in. Tui and a number of other operators are having to fly LFDs out to these resorts.”
Thorne said that two customers cancelled this week at a cost of over £4,000 while others had been forced to rebook holidays booked in 2020 as many as five times.
