Heathrow workers have slammed the government’s border policy as they say it is putting travellers in jeopardy.
Staff said there is overcrowding as passengers from different lists form a bottleneck and are forced to drink from same water fountain.
The security and hosting services employees blasted the airport for letting arrivals from red list countries mix with those from green and amber.
Pictures from Terminal 2 today show travellers from Covid-stricken India just yards away from other flyers as they were escorted to quarantine.
It comes as Grant Shapps urged holidaymakers wanting to visit countries on the Government’s amber list to have ‘more patience’.
The Transport Secretary appealed for people to have ‘a little more patience as the world catches up with our vaccine programme’.
But Mr Shapps gave a glimmer of hope for sunseekers as he held out the prospect of expending the ‘green list’ within weeks.
Meanwhile passengers from red list hotspots are travelling to the UK via amber countries to avoid paying for costly hotel quarantine.
Staff said there is overcrowding as passengers from different lists form a bottleneck and are forced to drink from same water fountain. Pictured: India travellers on the left are just yards away from amber list countries on the right
The security and hosting services employees blasted the airport for letting arrivals from red list countries mix with those from green and amber
Pictures from Terminal 2 today show travellers from Covid-stricken India just yards away from other flyers as they were escorted to quarantine
Heathrow Terminals 2 and 5 are open (in green) but 3 and 4 (in red) have been mothballed since last year to save money
The GMB Union said they had been told workers are livid with the government’s border policy and fear for people’s safety.
It said members are reporting that travellers from different lists are stuck in a bottleneck before immigration.
Others say passengers are mixing without Perspex screens and are forced to drink from the same communal water fountain.
Security workers escorting red list arrivals through Terminal 2 say they have little or no access to fresh water, food heating or rest areas.
The Heathrow staff said as soon as Britain opened its borders to India the situation went ‘ballistic’.
There is also fresh crisis for the quarantine system as coaches there have filled up and red list travellers are being forced to go further afield for a hotel.
It has left longer queues for the buses and led to even more bottlenecks, the angry workers reported.
GMB National Officer Nadine Houghton said: ‘I have been inundated by messages from concerned GMB members providing a vital service at Heathrow.
‘Workers who desperately want to get the UK flying again but are in fear for theirs and their family’s safety.
‘GMB wants to know how the Government will mitigate further problems when more countries are added to colour coded lists?
‘As our quarantine hotels fill up, what measures do Ministers have in place if more countries turn Red?’
She added: ‘How will they cope with more bottlenecks at Heathrow and potentially elsewhere?
‘GMB wholeheartedly supports the reopening of the sector, but only if this can be done safely, if this is not possible then bailout package specifically for aviation workers must be provided.’
It comes as Grant Shapps urged holidaymakers wanting to visit countries on the Government’s amber list to have ‘more patience’. Pictured; Heathrow today
The Transport Secretary appealed for people to have ‘a little more patience as the world catches up with our vaccine programme’. Pictured: Heathrow today
Mr Shapps gave a glimmer of hope for sunseekers as he held out the prospect of expending the ‘green list’ within weeks. Pictured: Heathrow today
The GMB Union said they had been told workers are livid with the government’s border policy and fear for people’s safety. Pictured: The airport today
Millions are taking a punt and have booked holidays to Amber List nations, especially in Europe, despite warnings not to fly
Transport Secretary Mr Shapps earlier urged holidaymakers wanting to visit countries on the Government’s amber list to have ‘more patience’.
Popular summer hotspots such as Spain, France, Italy and Greece are among the countries on the list.
Mr Shapps appealed for people to have ‘a little more patience as the world catches up with our vaccine programme’.
Travellers returning to Britain from an amber location must quarantine at home for 10 days and take a pre-departure test and two post-arrival tests.
He told Sky News: ‘There’s a heck of a lot of hassle involved. It’s expensive. We’re not at the stage of saying to people, go to those places on holiday, in fact, please don’t.’
Asked why holidays were still being sold to countries on the amber list, Mr Shapps said the Government had moved away from a system where things were ‘banned and illegal’ to a situation where people were expected to ‘apply a bit of common sense’.
No mention of avoiding leisure travel to amber list countries was mentioned in the Government’s Global Travel Taskforce report on April 9, which set out the rules.
EasyJet chief executive Johan Lundgren described the communication in relation to amber list travel as ‘very confusing to say the least’.
He said customers are going on holiday to amber tier countries as many people see an overseas break as a ‘top priority’.
The UK is ‘falling behind’ other European countries which are ‘opening up at large scale’, Mr Lundgren warned.
He added: ‘We urge the Government to look at this data again and make sure that they also are following the rules and the conditions that they set up themselves.’
But Mr Shapps insisted that people should only go on foreign holidays to green list countries.
Portugal is currently the only major viable tourist destination on that list.
Heathrow staff walk people coming back from India through Terminal 2 right past people waiting inside the terminal and with those who are also returning to the UK from other places
Asked why holidays were still being sold to countries on the amber list, Mr Shapps said the Government had moved away from a system where things were ‘banned and illegal’ to a situation where people were expected to ‘apply a bit of common sense’. Pictured: Heathrow today
The seven-day infection rates per million people have been coming down in France, Greece, Spain and Italy
Asked if he was pushing for the green list to be extended, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today: ‘Of course.
‘The reason for that is we have ended up getting way ahead in terms of our vaccination programme in this country and we are just having to wait for other countries to catch up with us.
‘That’s going to gradually happen, obviously, you can see it’s happening, so that list should expand.’
Mr Shapps defended the continued availability of direct flights from countries such as India on the coronavirus red list.
In an interview on Sky News, he said: ‘You cannot prevent British citizens from returning home, no country can ban its own citizens.’
The Cabinet minister told BBC Breakfast that he wanted passengers arriving from amber and red list countries to be segregated in airports ‘as much as is practically possible’.
He added Heathrow, which is currently only using two of its four terminals, is examining using a ‘spare terminal to bring in perhaps the red flights separately’.
Meanwhile passengers from red list hotspots are travelling to the UK via amber countries to avoid paying for costly hotel quarantine.
Travellers are being crammed into queues with no social distancing from other passengers upon arrival, with many branding the situation ‘crazy’ and ‘mad’.
Holidaymakers leaving Heathrow admitted they are flying to amber list destinations in defiance of Boris Johnson’s muddled Cabinet.
And before arriving back home, some arrivals are flying from red destinations to amber ones, staying there for ten days, then travelling back to the UK.
As it stands, arrivals from red list destinations have to stay in an approved, locked-down hotel for ten days at a cost of £1,750.
Those from amber destinations can isolate at home.
Diego Sacomane, 36, flew London’s Heathrow Airport from Brazil via Egypt where he spent 12 days to avoid paying for a hotel quarantine in the UK.
He told MailOnline yesterday: ‘We went from Brazil to Egypt where we spent 12 days – 14 nights and then came here.
‘I work as a chef and my wife’s a cleaner here in London. ‘The queue was crazy getting in, and there was only one guy at passport control. I didn’t see them separating anyone from red or amber list countries.’
Shahar Cohen, 40, a web developer who lives in Bethnal Green in East London, said: ‘I came from Tel Aviv where it’s a war zone – I was hiding from rockets just the other day. The siren goes off and you have 90 seconds to find shelter.
‘It was super easy getting into the UK, there was a nice gentleman who was very efficient and quick, even though there was quite a long queue.
‘There is a possibility that people who were elsewhere travelled on the same flight as me. Some people were not wearing masks in the passport queue and other passengers asked them to put it on.
‘There were only two queues at passport control, one for UK and EU citizens and then one for others.
‘But I didn’t see any specific queues for amber or red list countries, but maybe there were none on my plane.’
Alusine Jalloh, 40, flew in to Heathrow Terminal 2 yesterday from Sierra Leone, which is on the amber list, via Paris. He told MailOnline: ‘It was crazy.
‘A lot of people were stressing because they didn’t have the passenger locator form when we arrived in Paris.
‘Some of them didn’t even have £170 to spend, so they had to go back [to Sierra Leone] – it was chaos.
‘There were long queues and everyone was scrambling to fill out their forms and pay the money.
‘From what I could see passengers from amber list countries and red list countries are being treated the same.
Positive test figures from the Wellcome Sanger Institute reveal the mutant Indian strain made up 50 per cent or more of all samples in 23 parts of the country by last week. Bolton and Blackburn in the North West remain the worst-hit areas with almost 600 cases between them and the variant making up 81 per cent of infections
‘I transferred in Paris so I could definitely have been on the plane with people from green list countries.’
Other passengers say there were separate lines for red, orange and amber countries, but passengers could join any queue they chose.
Officials only reviewed their paperwork – thereby seeing what country they arrived from – once they reached passport control.
A Heathrow spokesman said: ‘There are numerous measures to keep passengers and colleagues safe, including requirements for negative tests pre-departure for all international arrivals, enhanced cleaning regimes and ventilation in the immigration halls, dedicated COVID marshals to enforce social distancing and mandatory use of face coverings throughout the airport.
‘As a result, the risk of transmission at the airport is low. The process the Government has designed for red list passengers, triages passengers at Heathrow between aircraft gate and the immigration hall.
‘Those from the red list are directed into a dedicated channel and separated from other passengers.
‘After crossing the border, Government contractors then escort red list passengers to a segregated area of our baggage hall to collect their luggage before taking them to dedicated hotel quarantine transportation.’
The Home Office has been approached for comment.