British Expats On the Costa del Sol 'Hot Under The Collar' Over Spain's Border Restrictions

British Expats On the Costa del Sol ‘Hot Under The Collar’ Over Spain’s Border Restrictions.

British ex-pats are fuming and getting ‘hot under the collar’ over Spain’s border restrictions that allow the Germans and French- and other nationalities (albeit with the required negative covid test)- to visit the country but yet they cannot even drive up to Alicante or cross provinces- at the moment in the Baleares, there are no restrictions to travelling between the islands.
Taking the region of Andalucía as an example, over 40,000 more police officers have recently been put on extra duties to monitor the borders, not just internally but externally as well to monitor movement over the Easter period.
Already, a woman from Madrid has fallen foul of the law.
A 78-year-old retiree from Madrid faces a possible fine of €600 euros for skipping the perimeter closure of the Valencian Community due to the coronavirus by moving to her second residence in Alicante and being reported by a neighbour, according to municipal sources.
It happened on the beach of San Juan, where the woman was located and identified, after a call to 112 alerting through a neighbourhood complaint that a person was not complying with the anti-covid measures imposed due to the serious health crisis, and had moved to his second residence located on Avenida de Santander.
Two patrols of the Citizen Security Unit of the Local Police of Alicante travelled to the apartment building and located the person denounced and proceeded to identify him, verifying that he was a 78-year-old woman from outside the Valencian Community he had moved from Madrid, for which he was issued a sanction certificate.
The majority of the 785 municipalities are now open, but some 50 still remain closed as they have incidence rates of over 1,000 per 100,000 inhabitants and are off-limits to visitors except for special circumstances.
‘So let’s get this right then’ says Sandra Evans of Mijas on Facebook,’ I can’t drive up to Benidorm and see friends but most of the World can fly or drive into Fuengirola as long as they take a PCR test- how can that be right? I’m FUMING!!’
Restrictions still apply to the whole of Spain and no travel across regional borders is allowed unless under special circumstances. Internally, within most regions, travel is allowed but not every area has every municipality open so it is imperative to check before making travel plans. Each regional government has it’s own website with daily updates, here is the link for Andalucías web site – https://www.juntadeandalucia.es/
Spain has now lifted the restrictions imposed since the end of December on flights from the United Kingdom on 30 March, although restrictions remain for those arriving from Brazil and South Africa in order to prevent the entry of coronavirus variants from these countries.
The new measure comes into effect at 6 pm today, March 30 (Spanish mainland time) and stays in force until midnight on 13 April.
“The extension of the flight restriction is maintained with South Africa and Brazil, but not with the United Kingdom,” announced government spokesperson María Jesús Montero after a Cabinet meeting.
Existing restrictions meant that flights from any airport in the United Kingdom to any Spanish airport – with or without intermediate stops – can only carry Spanish or Andorran nationals or legal residents in Spain or Andorra.
Now, in theory, with the lifting of the Spanish restrictions; UK tourists could also come to Spain, and not just residents.
Alan Cummings, who lives in Manchester, and was a regular visitor to the Costa del Sol until the crisis struck said:’ Three times we have booked to fly over to have a short break in Fuengirola Spain, we love it there and have gotten to know lots of ex-pats and Spanish bar owners who we used to see on a regular basis- we have been going there for years. We haven’t asked for a refund from EasyJet because we still intend to come over. My wife and i lived in Calahonda 12 years ago but we had to move back when my work as an entertainer dried up. We were excited and looking forward to visiting friends, get some sun, have a cocktail on the beach and just relax, it’s been so hard in Manchester with the restrictions. What has really wound up though is that most of Europe can come over but not us! We would get fined five grand if we tried to come over now, from today.! crazy, just crazy.’
The UK’s Health Minister, Matt Hancock, has indicated that from next week fines of up to £5,000 (6,000 euros) could be imposed on Britons travelling abroad for holidays and without “good reason”.
Those travelling for a justified reason from the UK to Spain from 30 March will still need to show a negative PCR test result taken no more than 72 hours before arrival.
 
 


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Tony Winterburn

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