I HAVE first-hand experience that police in Scotland are not enforcing the 14-day mandatory quarantine period when returning from countries on the no-travel list. 

I watched a young couple travel to Croatia at the end of August. 

I followed as they posted pictures of empty beaches and resorts on their social media accounts. 

Croatia was removed from the list of exempt countries on August 25, and as a direct result, anyone travelling to Croatia must self isolate for a period of 14 days upon return. 

Upon returning from Croatia, the above-mentioned young couple proceeded to most pictures on their social media accounts attending a gym in Glasgow. 

This irked me as it put others in danger of catching the virus, so I proceeded to contact the police to report the young couple for breaking quarantine. 

The first thing the police officer asked me was if I had contacted the young couple to inform them that they were breaching quarantine by going to the gym, implying that it wasn’t up to them to follow these things up, it was in fact up to the public. 

The police, eventually, agreed to contact the young lady to question her about this, and she informed them that she had been tested on return from Croatia, confirming she was negative for Covid-19. 

This seemed to satisfy the police that she was innocent of breaching the 14-day mandatory quarantine, but it bothered me (and for good reason). 

If people are allowed to travel to non-exempt countries and simply get tested when they return, despite not showing any symptoms, then this is going to put considerable strain on the NHS and its testing capabilities and undermines the very purpose of having a no-travel list of countries in the first place. 

The young couple in question should not have got tested without first showing symptoms and they should have quarantined for the mandatory 14-day period on return from Croatia. 

If police are not fully enforcing the 14-day mandatory quarantine period, then what is the point of having it in the first place?

Mrs Silence Dogood
Via email

WHAT idiot decided to build a new prison to accommodate 1200 inmates when Barlinnie is already overcrowded with 1500?

Oh that’s right they are going to introduce a “Flex” with fluctuations in sentencing. In layman’s terms this means there will be less custodial sentencing, it must be great to be a criminal.

LJT
Glasgow