We’re back in the UK from France to spend Christmas with our daughters. This was planned well before the Omicron variant of the Covid virus was even discovered. We arrived a week ago, well before additional restrictions on crossing the UK border were announced by France and which came into force last Friday night.
I’m in full support of anti-Covid measures. We’re all triple-jabbed, we are pro-mask, and we do our best to be sensible on going about our daily business. We’ve already reduced our social plans severely for this Christmas.
But, come on, governments – if you want us to comply with your changing regulations, we need your help!
For example, France produced a long list of reasons that would be acceptable and unacceptable for crossing the border. Unfortunately, these were very poorly worded, with the translated English language version seemingly contradicting the French version in places.
In particular, there was confusion regarding whether, or not, UK nationals could return to the UK. While the French government information was confusing, there was no help at all from the UK government website.
This led to reports that even border officials were interpreting the permissions in contradictory ways, with some people being denied onward travel, while others – in pretty much identical situations – being allowed. And it’s not the first time this has happened.
We are UK nationals, but registered French residents. At least the guidance seems clear that we’ll be able to return before the New Year (after a slew of tests on both sides of the border) – fingers crossed!
