Scots musicians beat quarantine rules by minutes after hiring fishing boat

A group of Scots musicians crossed the English Channel in a fishing boat to beat France quarantine rules with just 10 minutes to spare.

After a five-hour Channel crossing, eight members of the Edinburgh-based Dunedin Consort arrived at Hayling Island in Hampshire at 3.50am yesterday.

They were among tens of thousands of British people who were trying to get home before the 14-day quarantine requirement came into force at 4am.

The musicians made the crossing after a performance in Lessay Abbey, Normandy, on Friday night – the first concert by the baroque ensemble since lockdown.

Jo Buckley, the Dunedin Consort’s chief executive, said the group spent hours online trying to find ways to get home before the deadline, which was announced by the government late on Thursday night.

She said: “We couldn’t find any way of doing the concert and getting home before the quarantine curfew.”

On Friday morning they found a firm which hired out a boat for fishing trips from Hayling Island. They left French port Cherbourg shortly before midnight and arrived in the UK about five hours later.

UK tourists in France made last-ditch bids to return home before the imposition of quarantine rules on those returning from France.

Last night the British Airline Pilots Association union general secretary Brian Strutton said changes to quarantine restrictions are undermining efforts to restart the travel industry.

Mr Strutton said: “The airline industry is doing its best to get back on track but keeps being knocked back.”