Top tories call for 'burdensome' travel checks to be ditched

Senior Conservative backbenchers have called for the end of “cumbersome, intrusive and redundant” passenger locator forms (PLFs) for air travel in wake of all other Covid restrictions being lifted.

They are demanding that the forms - introduced before all the restrictions on travel were ditched - should be phased out before families go on their Easter holidays.

Grant Shapps, the Transport Secretary, is understood to be pressing for their removal by Easter but it is unclear whether a decision will be taken in time. A simplification is already planned, reducing the time it takes on average from 12 to eight minutes.

Huw Merriman, Conservative chair of the Commons Transport Committee, said that with the ending of self-isolation last week and removal of all Covid restrictions, the PLF had become “totally redundant and needs to go.”

“It’s a drain on international travel; the sector arguably most impacted by the pandemic. To leave this cumbersome and intrusive document in place has absolutely no logic and only adds insult to injury,” he said

Sir Graham Brady, chair of the Tory 1922 backbench committee, said: “Most other countries have massively simplified their passenger locator form or dispensed with them.

“We should now do the same in order to remove a further burden for travellers in a world where all domestic restrictions have already been swept aside.”

Henry Smith, Tory chair of the all party Future of Aviation group, said: “The PLF is time consuming and confusing for many, additionally it can lead to delays at the UK border. As Future of Aviation All Party Parliamentary Group chair I'm lobbying for the form to be withdrawn in time for Easter.”

The PLF was designed to help Government agencies track passengers who needed to quarantine or be tested on arrival in the UK.

However, all testing and quarantine has been scrapped for the fully vaccinated, while unjabbed travellers are no longer required to self isolate although they still have to complete pre departure and day two tests on arrival.

The travel industry led by airlines are demanding that not only should the PLF be scrapped but, with the removal of domestic restrictions and end of self-isolation, so too should the tests for the unvaccinated.

Tim Alderslade, chief executive of Airlines UK, said: “You don’t need a form to order a table in a restaurant or buy a drink, whether you’ve been vaccinated or not, so why should they be required for travel. What’s the difference, in the age of Omicron?

“The Government has rightly removed the remaining domestic restrictions and is not basing policy on vaccination status. It now needs to be consistent and fair to aviation and the travel sector by getting rid of testing for the unvaccinated and retiring the PLF.”

Airport Operators Association Chief Executive Karen Dee said: “The Government is removing domestic restrictions as we learn to live with Covid and the same should apply to international travel. We cannot recover from the pandemic as long as we continue to require some sort of health passport like the Passenger Locator Form as well as a normal passport.

“The PLF no longer serves a purpose and should be abolished, particularly if the Government ceases to routinely test and monitor Covid-19 domestically. The PLF remains one of the more complex such forms to fill out, compared to other countries’ approaches, regularly leading to problems and delays at boarding abroad or at the border in UK airports.

“Abolishing it will remove another burden on travellers and help facilitate a return to normal in aviation.”