A man returning to the UK from India had to wait for eight hours without food and water before reaching his quarantine hotel in Gatwick.
Mr Paul, 39, who preferred not to give his first name, flew from India, which is on the UK’s ‘red list’, to Heathrow Airport on June 28.
The IT consultant from South London, who is originally from India, was forced to wait hours in packed queues before his ten-day isolation, according to My London.
Despite arriving at the airport at around 7.45am he only reached his quarantine hotel in Gatwick after 4.30pm.
Mr Paul, who had been in India since September with his wife, said there were almost 1,000 people in the immigration hall.
He said: “All of the queues, everywhere [there was] absolutely no social distancing. People were frustrated, many were exhausted. Social distancing was their last concern…
“That’s my biggest concern if [the government is] enforcing an institutional quarantine [and] you have flights full of people and they are in a very confined space, no social distancing whatsoever. What’s the point of the ten day quarantine after that?
“I think that’s the biggest hotspot I’ve seen so far, people would have got the disease there, definitely.”
During this eight-hour delay he did not have access to food or water, as all the shops were in a different terminal.
He said: “[There were] some really old people who wanted water, some of them were starving [and] wanted food .
“Nobody offered water, nobody talked to us. That’s the worst part.
“We were all clueless, the whole treatment was subhuman.”
He also said Heathrow is the “biggest hotspot” for Covid after he saw staff at the airport including members of the UK Border Force wearing masks only partially or not at all.
When they arrived at the hotel, passengers were expected to wait another hour as staff checked them in one by one.
He also claimed the hotel booking system “was so rubbish” after he was told less than 48 hours before his flight that his hotel was not booked.
Mr Paul said his emails were ignored and he was frequently hung up on.
This meant he could not travel with his wife and had to fly alone on the later date of June 28.
He is currently undertaking his government-mandated quarantine in a hotel in Gatwick.
A government spokesperson said its top priority is protecting the public with a “robust border regime” to stop new variants reaching the UK.
They said: “Managed quarantine facilities and providers are accommodating the vast majority of people's requirements, and we expect them to take any necessary steps to address concerns raised by travellers.”
A Heathrow spokesperson said: "Throughout the pandemic Heathrow has employed a multi-layered approach in order to keep passengers and colleagues safe at the airport.”
They said these include Covid marshals to encourage social distancing, mandatory mask-wearing and “enhanced cleaning regimes” at all terminals.
The Department of Health and Social Care awarded contracts to Corporate Travel Management (CTM) to coordinate the government’s hotel quarantine programme.
CTM said on July 1: "While we cannot comment on individual cases, we are adapting our resources to manage very high volumes of calls from travellers returning to the UK.
“We are working to meet these individual requirements for every traveller, and acknowledge that returning to the UK during the pandemic is a stressful experience. CTM is committed to supporting British citizens to safely return home to the UK.”
They said people are given space at the nearest available hotel.
