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A British mum has slammed ‘ridiculous’ rules which could force her 13-year-old daughter to quarantine in Majorca for 21 days.
April Allinson, from Teesside, said her sunny getaway with her daughter Ellie and daughter’s friend Lilly has turned into a ‘nightmare’.
The trio have been in quarantine in Alcudia, Majorca, for eight days and were due to head back to the UK on Saturday.
However April, 30, said the Spanish Embassy has now instructed that the two teenagers must quarantine for a further 10 days after their last contact with the mum-of-one.
The beauty business owner said she ‘doesn’t understand how it can be acceptable or legal’ to leave two young girls alone in a foreign country for 10 days, calling the situation ‘absolutely ridiculous’.
‘We’ve done our 10 days [of quarantine] and that’s absolutely fine, that’s up in the next couple of days. We have no problem with that,’ she said.
‘The problem is now that the Spanish Government are trying to say the girls, who are 13, their quarantine doesn’t start until I leave them. Their last contact with me is when their quarantine starts.
‘I don’t understand how that can be acceptable or legal.
‘That’s what the issue is. That’s what we’re trying to get help with. Them saying they have to stay by themselves is absolutely ridiculous.’
April Allinson (right), a British mum and business owner, has slammed ‘ridiculous’ rules which will force her 13-year-old daughter Ellie (left) to quarantine in Majorca for 21 days
April is desperate to rectify the situation as quickly as possible and said she has since been told by someone in contact with the Foreign Office that they are ‘very positive’ that it ‘should be resolved’.
She explained how the trio ended up in isolation after she received a false negative test result.
‘We come on holiday on the 14th and we were only meant to be here for seven days and fly back on the 21st. We ordered a fit to fly test on the 20th which all came back negative so we all thought we were coming home and then I had a phone about five hours after my test,’ April, from Egglescliffe, said.
‘They said I wasn’t negative, I was actually positive and they’d sent me another email. The email they sent me went into my junk folder and they re-tested me the next morning.
‘It come back positive at which point we were already isolating and weren’t allowed to leave the room.
‘That’s absolutely fine, we accepted that and will do our 10 days isolation..’
However, on Tuesday morning April received a phone call at 10am from the Spanish Government to confirm her quarantine period ends on Friday, July 30.
She was told she is able to fly home to Middlesbrough on Saturday, July 31.
But her daughter and her friend must begin their quarantine period when April has left.
‘They’re trying to say that once I leave my children, their quarantine then starts even though they’ve been isolating with me for the last 10 days,’ she said.
April (left) had been holidaying with her daughter and her daughter’s friend Lilly (right)
The aesthetics practitioner had taken her daughter and her friend for a holiday to the Spanish island and booked the trip last year.
Spain was on the UK’s green list when they first arrived, however it has since changed to amber during their stay.
April and the two teenagers departed from Newcastle Airport on Wednesday, July 14 and were set to return on Wednesday, July 21.
She says she has exhausted all options to get in touch with the Spanish and British Embassy and claims they’ve been ‘no help at all’ apart from ‘we will call you back’
She added: ‘I can’t leave, I’ve got two kids here who are 13-years-old.
‘It’s really worrying the fact that they’re saying I have to leave for their quarantine to start. I don’t understand that and I’ve never heard of it.
‘They won’t let the kids leave with me on the 31st, saying that their quarantine hasn’t started yet.’
All three have also now produced negative covid tests.
Aside from the worry about the girls, April is also facing huge bills once her quarantine ends as she is on a daily rate at the hotel and car park.
She says she is expecting to pay a further £2,400 on top of her original holiday price.
‘Newcastle Airport won’t extend my parking either,’ she said.
‘They’re charging me £20 a day so it’s going to cost me £200 to get my car out of the car park when I get home.
‘But obviously if I have to stay another 10 days it’s going to cost me £400 to get my car out.’
The trio have been in quarantine in Alcudia, Majorca, for eight days and were due to head back to the UK on Saturday. However April, 30, said the Spanish Embassy has now instructed that the two teenagers must quarantine for a further 10 days after their last contact with the mum-of-one. Pictured: April (left) and Ellie (right)
However, she has praised the hotel, stating they have ‘looked after them’ since they were made to isolate.
April explained how the whole floor has been shut off, staff have dropped food at the door and she has been provided with a WhatsApp number in case they need anything.
‘They’ve been really good,’ she said.
April and the two youngsters haven’t been allowed outside since her positive test which she says is ‘fair enough’.
But she says if they are made to quarantine for a further 10 days, the three of them will be in a room for 20 days in total.
April added the teenagers are ‘bored and sick’ but ‘understand everything that’s going on and worrying they’re going to have to stay another 10 days’.
April stated that she is not complaining about being in quarantine but rather about potentially having to leave the two children alone in Spain.
Spain, including the Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands, is on the amber list for entering England.
The Spanish government requires all arrivals to Spain from the UK to present on entry a pre-travel declaration form and either a negative COVID-19 test or proof of vaccination.
Teesside Live has contacted the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office for a comment.
Source: dailymail
