The Government has been accused of failing to get a grip on greedy and unscrupulous testing companies 'gaming the system' to rip off holidaymakers as the quarantine hotel system failed families.
Downing Street has vowed to strike off anyone found to be exploiting travellers but firms are already cashing in and charging families of four up to £376 for arrival tests up until day 2.
Ministers expressed concerns yesterday that test cowboys were offering 30p tests via the Government's official website. Although customers clicking through to those websites still face paying £80 for the cheapest test.
From today, anyone travelling to the UK from a green list country - including the double or triple vaccinated - must take a PCR or antigen test in the 2 days before your service to England departs.
For example, if you travel directly to England on a Friday, you could take a test any time on the Wednesday, Thursday or Friday.
The prime minister's spokesman said it was unacceptable that PCR firms were taking advantage of passengers. He said: 'There are many tests available, both PCR and [lateral flow], within the £20-50 price range. We will continue to monitor the actions that the companies are taking.
'It is clearly unacceptable for any product testing company to take advantage of holidaymakers. The average price of a day two test is now under £45. We will strike companies off the list if they are found to be seeking to exploit the public when they need these tests.'
It came amid chaos in the UK's quarantine hotel system where a lack of rooms means families are being forced to separate and stay up to 100 miles apart after arriving from South Africa.
One family of three - a married couple and their son, six, were split up because they were told they could not all stay in a double room together. That meant they have to pay for both rooms at £2,285 each with no £350 family discount. Father and son are now Milton Keynes while the mother is in Gatwick.
The child's grandmother Janine Akers said: 'They haven't told their son yet and I don't know what the stress is going to be when he's told. The hotel would not let them book for the three of them to stay [together]. When they got the two room bookings confirmed they had no choice but to take them otherwise they may have been stranded over Christmas'.
She told the Telegraph: 'This is going to cost them around £6,000. They had to defer their flights for £250, find additional accommodation in South Africa which was £600, and then pay for the quarantine hotels.
'Splitting families up and one parent having the full responsibility while quarantining is a big ask. They've had to do it because they don't want to be stranded for Christmas. The government needs to urgently make more family rooms available for quarantine. They did not properly fund this scheme.'
Greedy firms are already taking advantage of new travel rules to advertise expensive PCR tests for as little as 30p – only to sting families with sky-high fees.
Revised rules mean all arrivals to the UK must take a PCR test within two days, and not just the cheaper lateral flow test as before. This is because PCR tests can identify variants such as Omicron.
Companies on the Government-approved list have been promoting the low prices in order to appear at the top of online searches. But once travellers click through to the website they can get caught out by 'fees' of £59 or more. Just yesterday firms were offering PCR tests for £15, which then came with a fee of £79. It could leave a family of four facing a bill of £376.
The issue has arisen because, although in theory travellers can get self-swab tests for just £15, there are very few available.
Experts have called on Health Secretary Sajid Javid and watchdogs the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to act.
Changes to the travel rules involving more testing for Britons returning home have been announced over the past ten days all with only a few days' notice – leaving thousands of passengers at the mercy of testing firms.
The Department of Health and Social Care has now removed several providers from the website, run by the UK Health Security Agency, after facing criticism for not doing enough to ensure the prices listed remain accurate.
Francis Ingham, director of the Laboratory and Testing Industry Organisation, the trade body for Covid testing firms, said: 'Cutting out the cowboys increases public confidence in testing and help us all get through Covid.'
Sajid Javid has swerved demands to compensate the travel industry, as he insisted that new restrictions were needed to control the spread of the Omicron variant.
The health secretary defended the introduction of pre-departure travel tests, which will come into force today, just days after ministers insisted they were not needed.
He said pre-departure testing 'could have a greater role to play in identifying positive cases before travel' because of new data suggesting Omicron could have a shorter window between infection and infectiousness.
Mr Javid said he 'fully understood' the impact on the travel sector, adding: 'This hugely important part of the economy has been hit again and again.' But he ducked repeated questions about whether the government would provide extra financial support for the industry, which is still in recovery from the repeated lockdowns of the last two years.
British holidaymakers queue for lateral flow tests at a shopping centre in Tenerife today before flying back to the UK
A family with two adults and one child hoping for a quarantine hotel space face waiting at least for a week until next Monday
It comes as families stuck in red list nations trying to get home could have to wait until 2022 – with no availability at London Heathrow quarantine hotels for a group of two adults and two children for the rest of this month.
A family with two adults and one child face waiting at least for a week until next Monday - while single adults or couples will have to wait until this Wednesday, according to availability on the official bookings portal CTM.
Quarantine hotels cost £2,285 for ten days or 11 nights for one adult in one room, then £1,430 for an additional adult or child over 11, and £325 for a child aged 5 to 11. You do not have to pay for children under five. The Government is now trying to massively expand its quarantine hotel offering as families face spending hundreds of pounds more on hotels abroad in one of 11 red-listed countries while they wait for UK hotel space.
Arrivals at Heathrow are said to be being transported by bus to Milton Keynes and Luton, with concerns that the problem could become worse if the red list is expanded in the coming days after Nigeria was added this morning.
A source told the Daily Telegraph: 'The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is desperately trying to find more hotel space. It is going to have to be massively expanded. That's what they are very, very focused on in the coming days, especially with Nigeria having been added and the likelihood of others to follow.'
The DHSC told MailOnline it had doubled the number of quarantine hotel rooms available from today and was 'rapidly expanding' capacity, while urging passengers not to travel from a red list country without a booking.
Meanwhile ministers are facing a huge backlash over the reintroduction of pre-departure Covid travel tests amid warnings that more than a million people could be stranded abroad just three weeks before Christmas.
Responding to testing firms charging very low prices to lure in customers, a DHSC spokesman told MailOnline: 'We've been clear that it is unacceptable for any private testing company to take advantage of holidaymakers.
Passengers arrive at London Heathrow Airport last Tuesday as more travel restrictions are brought in by the Government
The Government website of approved travel testing firms, which is run by the UK Health Security Agency which is part of the Department of Health and Social Care, has faced criticism for not being properly monitored to ensure prices remain accurate
'The government has taken action to drive down the cost of tests for international travel, with the average price of a Day 2 test now under £45 with many available for £20. We will continue to work with UKHSA to monitor issues raised by the public and take rapid action if appropriate, including striking companies from the list.'
Companies can be taken off the Government-approved list if they are found to be non-compliant with the minimum standards, to not be meeting their accreditation deadlines where applicable or have been raised as a possible public safeguarding risk to the DHSC.
It operates a two-strike process where providers failing to provide an adequate service are removed from the Government list. Private providers may be reinstated to the list once they have undertaken corrective action and provided the DHSC with evidence to show this.
And on the hotel room capacity issues, the DHSC told MailOnline: 'We are rapidly expanding our hotel capacity following our immediate and precautionary action against the omicron variant. We have doubled the number of hotel rooms available from Monday and will continue to increase availability on a daily basis.'
Meanwhile the travel sector has rounded on the Government after it performed a dramatic U-turn to require travellers to be tested before they return to Britain in a move that threatens to wreck the festive plans of millions of families.
Tory MPs said the rule change will be a hammer blow to the airline industry, and a leading scientific adviser to the Government said the clampdown would make no 'material difference' to the spread of the Omicron variant.
The move, which comes into force tomorrow, means travellers will have to provide a negative test result before they can board a flight home. Those who test positive will have to quarantine abroad at their own expense.
A Cabinet source said some officials and scientists had wanted to go even further by insisting that travellers quarantine at home for up to eight days on their return.
'If it had been up to the health 'Blob', this would have been even more disruptive,' the source said.
Industry sources predicted more than a million Britons abroad will be scrambling to get a test in order to avoid being stranded.
Travel expert Paul Charles said: 'People who are overseas are finding it difficult to obtain tests. It's a weekend, lots of places are closed and these people had no reason to think about
