Holiday lettings boss warns NHS app could ruin staycations

The ‘pingdemic’ is now set to ruin staycations for thousands of families just 48 hours before the school holidays start, a holiday lettings boss warned today – as one in five parents said they would be prepared to take their children out of the classroom to avoid ruining summer

Kate Allen, owner of the luxury holiday lettings business Salcombe Finest, warned that with coastal hospitality businesses making up to 80% of their annual turnover in the next six week, failing to abolish the app would be a death blow to the industry.

Hospitality businesses are being hammered both by a shortage of staff caused by them getting pinged by the NHS Covid app or contacted by Test & Trace, as well as cancellations from customers.

Also read: How to fill up on the anti-dementia vitamin 

It comes as increasing numbers of parents are planning to pull their children out of school early to reduce the risk of having to cancel their plans, with 20% not not ruling out removing their children from school before the school break to ensure they did not catch Covid or be asked to self-isolate.

Kate Allen, owner of the luxury holiday lettings business Salcombe Finest, warned that the ‘pingdemic’ risks ruining staycations. Pictured is a street in Salcombe

It comes as increasing numbers of parents are planning to pull their children out of school early to reduce the risk of having to cancel their summer holidays

Headteachers have urged parents to ensure their children still attend if they are not ill or self-isolating despite accepting holidays were important after a ‘torrid year’.

Ms Allen – whose business operates a range of luxury holiday homes in Salcombe – described the effects of widespread isolation demands from the NHS Covid app as ‘frankly ludicrous’.

‘It’s no surprise the app is being deleted in the hospitality industry faster than a U2 album on iTunes,’ she said.

NHS APP

Hospitality businesses are being hammered both by a shortage of staff caused by them getting pinged by the NHS Covid app

‘Coastal hospitality businesses make between 70% and 80% of their annual turnover in the next six weeks during the school holidays. If the app isn’t abolished right now, our window of opportunity will be gone.’

Dozens of businesses have already been hit by the pingdemic, including the Golden Gate holiday centre in Towyn, Conwy, which has been forced to shut its clubhouse due to a lack of staff.

Mark Cribb, owner of the Urban Reef restaurant and bar in Bournemouth, is losing thousands of pounds by having to close his venue early during the height of holiday season, and was forced to close one of his other venues entirely.

‘In one of our restaurants last week we had over 100 people booked in on a Monday but one of our chefs got pinged so we had to phone all of them to cancel,’ he told Channel 4 News.

‘Usually on a lovely evening we’d take thousands of pounds but on a Monday and Tuesday night at the moment we have had to close because of the lack of staff.’

Meanwhile, the organisers of Norfolk’s popular Houghton Festival have been forced to call off the event this year.

The Clubhouse at the Golden Gate holiday centre in Towyn, Conwy said on social media that its clubhouse would have to shut after several staff were contacted by NHS Test & Trace

They said in a statement reported by EDP24: ‘The track and trace system supposedly set up to protect us, presents an extraordinary challenge to our workforce.

‘It has the ability to reduce or remove a substantial amount of the workforce at any point with a simple ping.’

An estimated 1.7million people across the country are currently self-isolating after being ‘pinged’ by the app or contacted by NHS Test and Trace. It is only a legal requirement to isolate if you are contacted, and not if you are pinged.

The survey app Parent Ping asked its users if they would consider taking their children out of school early to avoid being asked to self-isolate by the Covid app or contacted by NHS Test & Trace.

The app, which surveys thousands of parents each day, found 20% would not not ruling out removing their children from school before the summer break to ensure they did not catch Covid or be asked to self-isolate.

Some 1% of parents said they would ‘definitely’ take their children out of school early, 5% said ‘maybe’ and 15% said they probably would not do so but weren’t sure.

Mark Cribb, owner of the Urban Reef restaurant and bar in Bournemouth, (pictured) is losing thousands of pounds by having to close his venue early during the height of holiday season, and was forced to close one of his other venues entirely

Meanwhile, the organisers of Norfolk’s popular Houghton Festival have been forced to call off the event this year

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, described the situation as a ‘grim end to a highly-disrupted academic year’.

Mr Barton told MailOnline: ‘We are concerned about parents keeping children at home over the last days of the summer term to avoid the risk of them being asked to self-isolate and this interfering with family holidays.

‘We are not casting blame on parents because we understand the importance of holidays after such a torrid year but we would encourage attendance where children are not ill or self-isolating.

‘Schools are currently coping with very significant levels of pupil absence not only for Covid-related reasons but more generally. We are also hearing of more schools having to close because of spiralling Covid rates.

‘It is a grim end to a highly-disrupted academic year, and it is essential that the government better supports schools and colleges in the autumn term to minimise further educational disruption.’

Business leaders and MPs have piled pressure on Prime Minister Boris Johnson to end the ‘pingdemic’ farce bringing Britain to its knees.

They spoke out as he had to perform a humiliating U-turn and self-isolate following contact with Health Secretary Sajid Javid, who has tested positive for Covid.

Justine Roberts, the founder and chief executive of Mumsnet, told MailOnline: ‘If the Mumsnet forums are any guide, the self-isolation system is creaking at best, with many taking their children out of school early and others saying they will press on with desperately-needed holidays in the UK even if their child gets a notification to isolate.

‘To quote one user, ‘Nobody is isolating because of school or nursery contacts around here, and nobody is chasing them up.’

‘Meantime others – particularly pregnant women or those with clinically vulnerable family members – are aghast at how quickly the system appears to be breaking down.’

From this week, key NHS workers have been exempted from the quarantine rule to help avoid hospitals cancelling operations because of staff shortages.

Last month BBC News reported that a father had removed his son from Queen Elizabeth High School in Hexham, Northumberland, to avoid him having to self-isolate if a classmate got Covid-19.

It comes as Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary revealed he would turn the NHS Covid app off because it is ‘complete rubbish’.

The chief executive of the Dublin-based airline group said the app is creating too much ‘caution’.

Mr Johnson and Chancellor Rishi Sunak had announced yesterday they would take part in a pilot scheme to avoid quarantine.

This sparked accusations of ‘one rule for them and another rule for everybody else’. The backlash saw Downing Street carry out a U-turn inside only three hours.

Mike Cherry of the Federation of Small Businesses questioned why a system to avoid self-isolation was open to politicians.

‘Small firms have been struggling to get across mixed messaging regarding the reopening for weeks now, and this is no different,’ he said.

‘Thousands of small businesses will now be left wondering why the testing pilot is only open to those at the top of government and a handful of big corporates and organisations but not them.’

The CBI said there was an urgent need ‘to allow double-jabbed individuals not to self-isolate if they have been informed by NHS Test and Trace that they have come into contact with a Covid-positive individual’.

The British Retail Consortium called for pinged store staff to be able to continue to work if they had a negative test result.

James Bielby, of the Federation of Wholesale Distributors, said: ‘Food supply chain workers are key workers and, unlike Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak, their workplace doesn’t close down for the summer.

‘They’re needed not only to keep shelves and storerooms stocked, but also to drive the economic recovery of the hospitality sector which the Prime Minister and Chancellor are depending on.’

Former prime minister Tony Blair said the self-isolation system was ‘not rational’. Its chaotic results have led to hospitals postponing operations, factories cancelling shifts, disruption to rail services and fears of food shortages.

‘I’m cancelling my weekends away so I don’t have to miss my friends’ weddings,’ says marketing boss, 33

Tom Bourlet, 33, from Brighton, says he’s missing out on weekends with his friends because he fears being told to self-isolate

A marketing boss who plans to attend four weddings this summer says he’s effectively self-isolating because he fears having to miss the joyous events due to a ‘ping’ from the NHS Covid app.

Tom Bourlet, 33, from Brighton, says he’s missing out on weekends with his friends because he fears being told to self-isolate.

The marketing manager, who works for stag-do firm The Stag Company, says he will even turn down a quiet pub drink with friends within 10 days of one the weddings.

Mr Bourlet, who has already had Covid, told MailOnline: ‘My friend group are due to go to Bristol next week and I’ve had to turn it down. I wanted to go but I just didn’t want to risk it and get a notification. I was also due to go Cambridge in September but I’m not going to that either.

‘If a friend asked me if they wanted to go for a drink 10 days before I don’t think I would either.’

He added: ‘I think it’s the right thing to do, to isolate if you have really have genuinely been in close contact with someone… but I don’t trust the accuracy.

‘I worry about going into a barber and then because someone who comes in later then has Covid I might be told I have to isolate for 10 days and I might miss the wedding.’

Despite his worry, Mr Bourlet says both he and his girlfriend continue to use the app. And he says they will isolate if told to, even if that means missing a wedding – one of which involves his friend of 12 years.

But he added: ‘I do think it is a bit bizarre that you can go out clubbing and people like me have to worry about going down the road because of the risk of getting an notification.’