South Shields dad in quarantine after travelling from Portugal slams country's exclusion from air bridges

Peter Taylor is currently self-isolating at his Westoe home for 14 days, after returning from Portugal on Friday, July 3.

He spends several months of the year in the town of Portimao in the Algarve, where his daughter runs a dance studio and has spent the lockdown there since leaving the UK in February.

He jumped on the first flight out of Faro when travel restrictions were lifted last week.

But as Portugal has not been included in the Government’s ‘air bridge’ scheme, he now must quarantine for two weeks.

The Department for Transport published a list of 73 quarantine-free countries, which features popular short-haul destinations such as Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, Greece and Cyprus.

But China, Portugal, Thailand, the Maldives and the US are among the notable absentees.

Peter says before boarding his flight he had to fill out a three-page form providing the contact details of where he was staying in the UK, as well as his daughter’s home and address, so that checks could be carried out by the authorities.

The author and former journalist has now openly criticised the decision to exclude Portugal from the list.

A post on his Facebook page, in which he says the nation ‘deserves better’ has been shared thousands of times and even led to him appearing in the Portuguese press.

He claims the decision is ‘unfair’ particularly as he feels their response to the coronavirus crisis has been ‘swifter and better coordinated’ than his home country’s.

“Portugal seemed to be much more decisive and faster moving with everything,” he said.

“It shows in the statistics, they have had around 1,600 deaths, and if the Portuguese approach had been adopted in the UK deaths might still be under 20,000 – not heading for 50,000 as they are now.”

In a tweet last week, the Portuguese foreign affairs minister branded it “absurd” that the country had been left off the list despite the UK having 28 times more deaths related to coronavirus.

Peter continued: “Tourism and travel is so important to Portugal and has been known to reach as much as a fifth of their gross domestic product. It needs these planes full again.

“I’m not encouraging people to travel – it’s up to the individual if they want to travel or not, but for the Government to exclude Portugal from the air bridges is not fair or logical.”

Guidance from the Department for Transport states that decisions as to which countries to include in the initial list have been ‘guided by science’ and will be reviewed regularly.

Although Portugal is not included in the first list of exemptions, the Government says it recognises the importance of travel between the two countries and hopes to be able to make travel between the two countries easier, but only when it is ‘safe and responsible’ to do so.

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