Channel Tunnel launching a £57 Covid testing service for holidaymakers going to France
The Channel Tunnel is launching a £57 Covid testing service for holidaymakers going to France.
Getlink, which transports cars and trucks through the England-France tunnel, is offering customers a ‘testing bundle’ in partnership with Prenetics, which also provides testing to Premier League clubs.
For the £57 fee, customers get a pre-departure PCR test which will deliver results within 24 hours.
Tunnel vision: Getlink is offering customers a ‘testing bundle’ in partnership with Prenetics
More expensive packages are available for those requiring multiple tests.
UK travellers to France, which is on the ‘amber’ travel list, only need to present a negative PCR test carried out less than 72 hours before departure to gain entry.
Those arriving from France must quarantine for ten days and test on the second and eighth days, or pay extra to be released on the fifth.
Getlink director John Keefe said that from next month passengers would be able to show border agents a ‘digital wallet’ on a smartphone linked to the NHS and French authorities’ systems. This will display passengers’ Covid test results.
Asked if the app could be expanded to include vaccine certificates, Keefe said: ‘We will be able to do that. They’re not valid for travel yet.
‘The French have said they’re going to introduce vaccine certificates for the inbound travel. We hope the UK will do that soon, too.’
Keefe said Channel Tunnel travellers were ‘reassured’ by the fact they could remain in their cars ‘from your front door to the door of your gite’ without mingling with other passengers, unlike on planes.