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Britons travelling to Sweden from the UK have been refused entry and held at an airport in a poorly heated room within the newest instance of Brexit paperwork issues and COVID-19 restrictions.
Lauren Branthwaite was amongst a gaggle of British nationals who arrived on a Ryanair flight in Gothenburg on Sunday night time however have been detained on the airport by police.
“We are all Swedish residents, living, working and paying taxes in Sweden. And we have all shown proof of a negative COVID test within 72 hours from time of travel, essentially we all had all necessary documents that were stated on (Swedish government) website,” she said.
“Upon arrival, the Swedish border police informed us that if the test was not taken by an ‘approved’ provider we would be refused entry. Since being removed from the plane at 19:46pm, we were left standing on the tarmac at -1° for almost an hour with no idea what was happening.
She added: “With no written proof or legal explanation of entry refusal, the police asked us to re-board the plane and travel back to the UK. Some chose to do this and boarded the return flight, others including myself did not and we remain detained in the airport unable to leave and unsure what will happen to us.”
Ms Brathwaite mentioned “We are being kept in a poorly heated room, the lights remain switched on and there is a constant beeping from a broken alarm system. We have no beds to sleep on and the chairs have armrests so we are unable to lay across.
“The only choice is that we sleep on the cold floor or sit up. We have been given two thin blankets to keep warm. Eventually, almost 5h since the plane landed we were given microwave food and bottled water at 23:30pm.”
The Swedish government did not respond to requests for comment.
Judith Gough, the British Ambassador to Sweden, said she was “very concerned” that Britons had suffered travel disruption.
The variety of individuals affected was not instantly clear however Ms Gough known as on Swedish authorities to clear up the “teething problems”.
Ms Gough mentioned UK residents have been additionally topic to tighter journey restrictions due to the brand new variant of COVID-19.
Across Europe, airways refused paperwork that earlier than Brexit had been legitimate proof of Britons’ standing as residents in Spain, Italy and Germany.
The journey chaos got here amid tightened restrictions introduced in due to a COVID-19 variant that has been blamed for a surge in contagion charges within the UK.
However, the bureaucratic complexities of Britain’s departure from the European Union have been additionally blamed by marketing campaign teams for the journey issues encountered by British nationals.
Fiona Godfrey, of British in Europe, which represents a few of the three million UK nationals dwelling within the EU, mentioned: “Under the Withdrawal Agreement, Brits who have been resident in an EU state earlier than midnight on December 31 2020 will not be topic to Schengen visa guidelines. We ought to be capable to enter with out having our passport stamped if we will produce both the brand new residence card or our present residence card.
“One problem we heard a lot about over the weekend was that returning UK citizens routinely had their passports stamped. This meant they were being admitted as visitors rather than as residents so they could fall foul of the 90/180 visa-free rule. We don’t know whether they will but we won’t know that until someone leaves the Schengen area in early April and tries to return again.”
Nine Britons making an attempt to return to Spain from London on Saturday have been stopped from flying after being instructed at Heathrow Airport that their green-coloured certificates of EU citizenship with a international nationwide identification quantity issued by Spain was not legitimate.
On Sunday each the British and Spanish governments mentioned the cardboard was nonetheless legitimate.
UK travellers have additionally been blocked from coming into the Netherlands following the top of the Brexit transition interval.
Dutch border police have turned away 10 British nationals since 1 January, after the UK formally left the European Union, stories broadcaster NOS.
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