First Published : 18th April 2021, by me @samdownie
So, looks like Fit to Fly - Testing for Covid 19 SAR-COV-2 , might just be a #health #scam . Below are links to various websites and documents.
I shall flesh this research out in due course over the coming months/years. Anything new will have a [update note: date] made underneath the link. Theres plenty of files that were stored on the gov's asset folder which aren't there anymore.
Stay tuned, and do get in touch. Need to contact me, please visit : www.dsoundz.co.uk
Thank for reading and do go explore the links and documents that I've found here.
UK Law & Legislation made & documents:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/150
This => is the list to all the "testing providers":
[update note: 8th Sept, 2022: it seems that this document stored and published on the assets folder at parliament, has been taken down. Hmm, wonder why!? - please feel free to ask to see the file "covid-private-testing-providers-test-to-release-240321.csv" from the government or NHS England. It was laid my the then health secretary Matt Hancock MP, perhaps ask him too]
This => is the gov "operator liability": https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/38/made
which the legislation states that it expires 7th June 2021.
Expiry
13.—(1) This Part expires at the end of 7th June 2021.
(2) The expiry of this Part does not affect the validity of anything done pursuant to these Regulations before it expires.
Grant Shapps
Secretary of State
Department for Transport
At 7.24 a.m. on 14th January 2021
Ok, want more uk government links ? here some:
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-testing-for-people-travelling-to-england
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-declaration-form-for-international-travel
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-test-to-release-for-international-travel
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/364/regulation/8
Updated Government Guidance to "Testing Providers (read as Private Providers and NOT the NHS" :
These are updates to the Private "testing" Providers with all guidance. Remember that guidance isn't legislation and won't hold up in any court of law.
Start with this one as it has some gems in it :
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/how-to-become-a-private-provider-of-covid-19-testing
Next read this one, an updated list of providers still in operation, and cross match it with the #VIPLane providers ;-)
The csv file of all listed can be found here :
CQC Regulation of "health companies" and "testing companies" :
The CQC regulates and check companies who do healthcare in the UK. Here's what they said to the Private #VIPLane Providers :
This is the important part, the law around it all :
" On 15 December 2020, the law changed. Coronavirus testing has been exempted as a regulated activity under the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. "
The draft legislation is here : https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2014/9780111117613/contents
And the laid legislation is here : https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/2936/contents
But it changed to
" The new Coronavirus, Testing Requirements and Standards (England) Regulations 2020 require all private coronavirus test providers to become accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). "
So all it reads is that, any "testing company" just needs to be "accredited" by a company that now sits outside of the UK government, called UKAS.
https://www.ukas.com/about-us/about-ukas/
" The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole National Accreditation Body for the United Kingdom. UKAS is recognised by Government, to assess against nationally and internationally agreed standards, organisations that provide conformity assessment services such as certification, testing, inspection, calibration and verification.
UKAS is a non-profit-distributing private company, limited by guarantee. It operates as an independent body providing a public authority activity and operating in the public interest. UKAS is self-financing and charges fees to conformity assessment bodies to cover operational costs and other expenditures.
Accreditation by UKAS demonstrates the competence, impartiality and performance capability of these evaluators. In short, UKAS ‘checks the checkers’. "
If UKAS "check the checkers" , then who is checking UKAS ? it's not the UK government, and there's no regulation or scrutiny going on. Therefore it's the UK public to "check the checkers" of UKAS.
Additionally, the word "accredited" is a protected word by law in the UK, and you have to ask permission to use it in your business and business name.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/incorporation-and-names/annex-a-sensitive-words-and-expressions-or-words-that-could-imply-a-connection-with-government
see number 2 on this list, which states the following :
2. Accredit / Accreditation / Accredited / Accrediting
To use this word in your proposed name, you must provide a letter or email of non-objection from the department shown below.
To speed up your application, make sure your email or letter is marked for the attention of the ‘Standards and Accreditation Team - Office for Product Safety and Standards’. Before proceeding please read the additional guidance.
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
Standards and Accreditation Team
Office for Product Safety and Standards
1 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0ET
Companies & Organisations:
https://www.heathrow.com/at-the-airport/fly-safe/covid-19-test
This is a scam health company => https://www.londoncoronatestcentre.com/
https://www.occupationalhealthbristol.co.uk/covid-19-tests/
https://www.airport-suppliers.com/about/
https://www.airport-suppliers.com/supplier/collinson-group/
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.collinsongroup.com
DocHQ are an "interesting" company to investigate:
https://dochq.co.uk/partnerships
https://dochq.co.uk/privacy-policy/
https://dochq.co.uk/travel-medicine-restrictions/
https://www.crunchbase.com/person/madhur-srivastava
https://humanmedicine.synlab.co.uk/synlab-bristol-airport-covid-19-testing/
https://humanmedicine.synlab.co.uk/test-to-release/
In Bristol there's Nomad Travel, who are also doing "travel testing", worth investigating them too:
https://www.nomadtravel.co.uk/travel-clinic/bristol-travel-clinic
https://www.nomadtravel.co.uk/travel-store/coronavirus
https://www.nomadtravel.co.uk/travel-store/coronavirus/coronavirus-rapid-antigen-test
Further Questions and Links:
Q: Who are Dante Labs ? as they are just one of many who are doing "travel testing" in the UK. Dante Lab received over £199 Million from uk government / Matt Hancock MP sec of state for health.
Q: Who are Illimina and their connection to Genomics England (ex NHS now) in Cambridge ? as Illimina who are Dante Labs, who carry out "consumer genomics testing market".
Fantastic bit of security research by the FTC (usa) and Oxford University Law department => https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/documents/public_comments/2015/10/00057-98101.pdf
Byline Times report 9th November 2020 on Dante Labs : https://bylinetimes.com/2020/11/09/119-million-covid-19-testing-contract-four-month-old-gene-analysis-firm/
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New Update on : 29th May 2021
The Guardian "Money" piece by reporter Miles Brignall now reports on the many problems travellers are now having with getting tests done for UK travel.
See this link : https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/may/29/covid-test-travellers-quarantined-kit-results
Here's the text of the article ( for international visitors because of paywall )
Less than two weeks after international holidays resumed, there are signs the government’s post-trip Covid testing regime is descending into chaos, with passengers paying hundreds of pounds for tests that aren’t being processed, or fail to arrive.
Passengers landing at UK airports over the past 10 days have described having to call the NHS 119 helpline after their government-listed testing supplier failed to deliver their results, leaving them unclear as to whether it was safe to end their 10-day quarantine.
Others, who spent £200 and more on home testing kits, have reported that they were not delivered to their quarantine address. The fact that so many of these firms are uncontactable – many do not publish phone numbers – is adding to the sense of frustration, say customers.
All travellers entering England from an amber-list country are now required to have a Covid test on or before day two and on or after day eight, and to self-quarantine while they await the results. There is also the option of a third test, which releases you from quarantine on day five. Those arriving from a green-list country have to be tested once after arrival, on day two.
But rather than using the NHS Covid set-up that has tested the nation over the last year – and charging passengers accordingly – the government website offers a list of private firms, of which there are 325 operating in England alone.
Passengers face a baffling choice of firms charging anywhere between £85 and £390 for both tests. Some firms have already sold out of the kits that are mostly self-administered. Others are selling kits they don’t have in stock.
To add to the confusion, different rules apply in Wales and Scotland even though passengers mostly fly into English airports.
Maria Karagkouni, who flew back to the UK from Greece on 14 May, says she was forced to ask the NHS for a test after the private contractor, Dante Labs, failed to process the ones she had paid £116 for. Speaking to the Guardian from her Kent home, she was still waiting for her first test result more than 10 days after it was due.
“Trying to get hold of anyone at Dante is impossible as the company doesn’t have a phone number, and ignores all emails. It has hundreds of terrible reviews on Trustpilot and Facebook. Why it was even on the government list is beyond me. I will be asking to a chargeback from my bank to get my money back,” she says.
Paolo Grossi used the government list to book his two- and eight-day tests, after returning from Milan 10 days ago. The provider booked him an appointment at his local Camden clinic where swabs were to be taken. “On day two I was supposed to visit the clinic to be tested but ‘test and trace’ called to tell me I could not attend as I was not to leave the house. This contradicted what I had read on the government website, what I had been told by border force staff at Heathrow, and the clinic itself,” he says.
“I called 119 and the woman I spoke to didn’t know what the rules were, either. In the end she sent me two NHS tests and I used those.
“The testing regime is in chaos, and I still don’t know what the rules are. What’s going to happen when travel starts for real this summer?”
Laura Woodruff, who flew to Bristol from Madeira to see her father in Wales just before he died this week, says the scheme is “completely unfit for purpose”. She paid £75 to book a test in Cardiff for when she arrived.
“When I came to fill in the passenger-locator form, which you can only complete 48 hours before flying, it demanded a test reference number I did not have,” she says.
She was unable to get through to the provider that she had booked. “So, faced with losing the flight, I was forced to buy a second £88 test from another firm,” she says. “It seems that the Welsh government changed the rules after I booked the first one, but why are rules even different from England in the first place? The whole process is unbelievably difficult to navigate.”
Rory Boland, the Which? Travel editor, says the consumer group raised concerns about the testing regime prior to international travel restarting.
“Proper regulatory oversight of testing for travel is urgently needed, not least to protect public health, and cannot be delayed any longer,” he says. “Millions of people are going to rely on this system over the summer, and risk being left significantly out of pocket through no fault of their own if these problems are not addressed by the government immediately.”Dante Labs was approached for comment.
A government spokesperson said: “It is the responsibility of the relevant private provider to manage the availability of their tests.
“We are closely monitoring the performance of private test providers to ensure they deliver a high quality service to customers, as we cautiously reopen international travel. If they do not provide an adequate service, they receive a five-day warning and are then removed from the gov.uk list of test providers if they do not improve.”