Dutch pair fined £800 each for quarantine breaches

Monday 05 October 2020

Two visitors from the Netherlands, who were staying in Gorey, have been fined £800 each for failing to quarantine after arriving in Jersey.

Franciscus Van Boekhold and Jan Gerrit Hak were fined, and also spent a night in police custody, after twice breaking the island's self-isolation rules.

The two Dutch men arrived in Jersey last Monday as foot passengers from Saint Malo, having driven there from the Netherlands. Coming from an ‘amber’ region, they each had a PCR test on arrival and then went to the Seascale Hotel at Gorey, where they were staying. 

Under the island’s covid restrictions, the pair needed to self-isolate until receiving a second negative test, taken five days later.

However, hours after arriving they visited the home of someone that owed them money - the purpose of their visit - and broke the rules in doing so.

Pictured: The men walked from the Seascale to the Dolphin Hotel in Gorey.

The police visited the two men at the Seascale later on Monday and explained the regulations to them. The men said that had taken a test in the Netherlands before their departure, which had returned negative results, but the police said that the five-day rule still applied so they had to remain in quarantine.

However, on Wednesday evening, the men left the Seascale and had dinner at the nearby Dolphin Hotel. This was reported to the police, who arrested the pair the following morning and took them into police custody.

Appearing via video link in the Magistrate’s Court on Friday, the men admitted their guilt and apologised for their mistake.

Defending Van Boekhold, Advocate Paul Nicholls said the men had not intended to flout the rules, which had changed between booking the trip and arriving. 

“These guidelines are ever-changing and are very difficult for residents outside of the island to understand,” he said. “The first breach was understandable while the second was, as the men realise, a stupid thing to do.”

Passing sentence, Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris said: “On the second occasion, you were in breach and you knew you were in breach. Regulations are a matter of public safety and you have unnecessarily put people at risk. Public safety requires this Court to take this breach very seriously.”

Pictured: The men took a PCR test on arriving at the Harbour but failed to quarantine until they had received a negative test taken five days later.

Both men had negative results for their arrival tests. They were due to return to Saint Malo on Friday but their boat was cancelled due to the weather. Upon their release from custody that day, they therefore had to go to the Airport to take a second test. They were scheduled to leave the island today but that sailing too has been cancelled. Sailings tomorrow are still scheduled.

They are the second pair of new arrivals to be punished for breaking this year’s emergency covid regulations.

In August, Maxime David and Margarita Farfan were also fined £800 each for going shopping and a walk when they should have been in quarantine after returning to the Island from Belgium via Luxembourg.