By Covid-19 travel test providers hit with warnings over “misleading prices” by Government
Over 80 private Covid-19 travel test providers listed on the Government website will be hit with two-strike warnings over “misleading prices”, the Health Secretary has announced.
57 more firms will be removed from the website on Monday, either because they no longer exist, or do not provide the relevant tests.
Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said the move was being carried out as a way to clamp down on “cowboy behaviour”.
Spot checks will also be conducted on the test providers.
The Government has made it mandatory when travelling internationally that tests before travel and on your arrival in the UK are mandatory.
However, the number of tests needed is dependent on whether you are arriving from a green or amber country or your vaccination status.
Arrivals from red countries are still required to quarantine in special hotels.
The government website has a list of private companies that offer these travel tests – but a review conducted recently by the Department of Health found that the prices being displayed on the Government website are lower than the actual cost of the tests.
Mr Javid said: “It is absolutely unacceptable for any private testing company to be taking advantage of holidaymakers and today’s action clamps down on this cowboy behaviour.
“57 firms will be removed from the Gov.UK list and a further 82 will be given a two-strike warning – if they advertise misleading prices ever again, they’re off.”
He added that the spot checks being introduced were to ensure that all private providers “follow the rules” and meet the government’s “high standards of transparency”.
Consumer group Which? told the BBC: “It’s welcome news that the government is finally taking responsibility for its list of test providers and carrying out an audit, but it’s six months late.
“There should not have been providers listed on the Gov.UK website that don’t exist. We found this in our first investigation in April, when providers were telling us that the system would collapse if larger numbers of people were travelling.”
